The Making of Angst

To say that I had been eagerly awaiting 'Rockstar' would be an understatement. It had all the right names associated with it; Imtiaz Ali, A R Rahman and the music was just mind blowing, as if you needed one more instance of a master reinventing himself yet again. But most of all I was very curious about the whole take on the Rockstar persona. I mean, which cultural phenomenas of our times have been more intriguing, ironic and tragic than the Rockstar.

'Rockstar' as story-telling is average. The plot jumps far too often, the performance of the leading lady is a big let down, although Ranbir Kapoor just shines through. As a concept, an exploration, however, 'Rockstar' is awesome. Yes, I said it out loud - Awesome.

'Rockstar' is an exploration of Angst. Although angst as a theme has existed for centuries, be it the existential angst of Hamlet - 'To be or not to be..' or Captain Ahab's mad obsessive angst against an indifferent, amoralistic universe symbolized by the White Whale. Hell, angst might very well be one of the favorite themes of literature in general. And while the past few decades seem to have been more about an irrational exuberance  than angst, the biggest cultural icons of our times to symbolize angst is the Rockstar.

Be it against an overbearing society, corrupt and cruel state, violence, puritansm etc. the Rockstar has used his rebellion as an effective tool to express his, oft misplaced, angst. Morrison, Cobain & co. were not just about sex, drugs and rock n roll, but also about a basic existential angst against the world. I think in 'Rockstar' Imtiaz Ali has tried to explore the same angst. Jordan can't really understand or control his doomed love or the frenzy of an icon hungry society which builds him up just to pull him down. The angrier he gets inside, the better his music and he keeps getting caught in the vicious cycle, a totally different Rabbit Hole if you may.

All of us have known angst at some point of time in our lives. To say that it is doomed is a fairly obvious statement to make. At its worse it is self obsessed, destructive and childish. At its best however, it simply innocence lost, a Naadan Parinda bewildered by a complex and strange world it can neither comprehend fully nor control.

The Ecstasy of Gold

Music is very often an important part of cinema, an important part of the story and the vision of the filmmaker. Whether its the haunting violin piece from 'Requiem for a dream' or the innumerable songs interwoven in the hindi movies, music has an important role of conveying a certain mood, an emotion at that point in the movie. However, rarely is the soundtrack of a movie so outstanding that it develops a life of its own, a work of art complete within itself.

Ennio Morricone's soundtrack for 'The Good The Bad and The ugly' is one of those brilliant achivements in cinematic scores. The eponymous title song, resembling the howling of coyote, is one of the most popular soundtracks, but the rest of the track is just as good, if not better. Ennio Morricone's use of synthesizer, mouth organ, guitar and his slow, sweeping style were instrumental in giving the 'Western' feel to the movie.

Not only do the tracks sound great, but their nomenclature also conveys the true genius of this soundtrack. Whether its the solemn 'The Story of a Soldier' and 'Il Forte' or the soulful 'Il Tramanto (The Sundown)' each soundtrack is simply a beautiful evocation of a mood and almost like a complete musical story in itself. But my favourite is the climactic 'The Ecstasy of Gold', a depiction of the epic showdown between the three characters and a culmination of all the chasing, adventure and the greed. It stands out as one of the best climaxes ever filmed simply because of this powerful and sweeping musical play of emotions.

'The Good The Bad and The Ugly' is one of the greatest soundtracks ever.

P.S. Just a layman's interpretation of some beautiful music.

The Cove

"The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality." ~Schopenhauer

The Cove (2009) is an eco-thriller documentary that sets out to expose the cruelty to dolphins in Japan.

Well, the Japs, they like their fish. And they are not particularly kind to animals. I mean if you actually listen hard enough, you might hear a lot of dead whales complaining. However, strange as the Japs are in their ways, they kill a lot of dolphins when the dolphin meat isn't even the preferred food there. Most of the dolphins are captured to be exported to the various marine entertainment parks around the world. The Cove sets about as a band of 'Environmental Crusaders' are trying to expose the slaughter of the remaining dolphins in the small fishing village of Taiji, Japan.

The most stunning aspect of the documentary is the compassion and collaboration of these people in trying to uncover the cruelty to dolphins in the face of many dangers. Whether it is Ric O'Barry, one of foremost dolphin activists or Charles Hambleton, a sailor and diver, their zealous activism is inspirational to say the least. They end up exposing not only the cruelty meted out to the dolphins, but through their compassion also end up making us realise the sensitive and intelligent nature of dolphins and how captivity itself is cruel to them.

Its the same story everytime isnt it? Ignorant and cruel humans leading to collapse of eco-systems, endangering their own health and survival, and the inefficacy of government and institutions in taking any kind of moral decisions, governed as they are themselves by the diktats of money. Prone to cynicism as I am, it is an example like this, where the passion of individuals makes about a difference, that is a reason for hope and inspiration.

Theres a scene towards the end of the documentary when an underwater camera, planted by this team suddenly starts seeing red, even as you hear (and understand, somehow) the pain in the squeal of a dolphin which is being slaughtered with the most cruelty. Compassion, ironically needs a glimpse of cruelty sometimes to be kindled. And it is this scene really, which makes you relate to the intense ardour of these activists.

The Cove will shock, disturb and inspire you. Must watch

P.S. I'm back.

The Portrait of a President as a (Dubya)Man

"I think we agree, the past is over" - George W. Bush

Usually, history renders a larger than life hue to our leaders, the intense evil, tales of bravado and overachievers, we have read all about these. Rarely are the portrayals as they should be, treating them more as people that existed also with their less flattering (or loathsome) selves; with their fair share of strange motives, insecurities and stupidity. W. by Oliver stone is such an attempt. By no means is it a great movie, but its the portrayal of George W. Bush as he was; a man.

The movie follows the story arc of Bush's life, from a college student to his ascendancy as the president and the most powerful (?) person in the world. In between, he is shown with all his insecurities and motives. Whether it is his obssession of his father's approval, his love for baseball, his tryst with religion and his alcoholism of youth and how each of these things contribute to the decisions he makes in his life. What the movie doesn't do is try to justify or defend his actions by adding a humane aspect to his persona, but what it does do is to present him as a man who like most of us committed mistakes (colossal) and is imperfect, and in that sense only, succeeds in evoking some sympathy for this mostly reviled and lampooned person.

And it yet again enforces the thought that how dangerous power is in the hands of anyone as nobody is really free from his biases, imperfections, insecurities and vested interests. And that power and stupidity is a lethal combination.

I would like to see a similar movie made on Indira Gandhi, she's just perfect for such a portrayal.

And clearly, past is never over.

P.S. Josh Brolin as George W. Bush is outstanding.

Disaster Movie

For cinema lovers, one of the hotly debated and followed lists is the IMDb top 250 movies, its like the holy grail of lists about movies. From checking how many movies one has finished off in the list, to debating on the Godfather vs. The Dark Knight positions, i can fairly admit that its an integral part of our lives (however lame). But an equally (if not more) entertaining and largely overlooked list is the IMDB bottom 100 movies; the so-bad-that-its-good list of movies. Outrageous titles, obnoxious plots and well an allround lameness that indeed is so bad that it can be termed creative, to say the least. Sample this: Die Hard Dracula, The Tony Blair Witch project, Santa with muscles, 3 Ninjas: High tea at Mega mountain; yes these movies have actually been made and named so!


Funnier yet are the plots of some other movies:

The Maize: The Movie - "A father's psychic abilities are put to the test when his two daughters are trapped inside of a corn maze haunted by the spirits of two young girls who disappeared a year earlier." Ah, look at the clever pun, corn-maze -maize ?! Woh.

Super Babies: Baby geniuses 2 - "A group of smart-talking toddlers find themselves at the center of a media mogul's experiment to crack the code to baby talk. The toddlers must race against time for the sake of babies everywhere." The baby talk code??! that must be a national priority.

Aztec Mummy vs. the Human Robot - "A mad doctor builds a robot in order to steal a valuable Aztec treasure from a tomb guarded by a centuries old living mummy." This is like a The Mummy meets the terminator. True convergence of past and the future!

Barney's Great adventure - "Mom and dad dump son Cody, daughter Abby, her best friend Marcella and a baby on the farm with Grandpa and Grandma. Purple dinosaur Barney soon appears to entertain kids, and when a large colorful egg deposited on a farm by a shooting star is accidentally carted off, Barney and kids start their chase for it." Purple dinosaur?! shooting star?! did a very stupid person do LSD to write the script?

Chairman of the Board - "A surfer becomes the head of a major company" Ah, clever pun again. True creativity, i say.

And my personal favourite -
It's Pat - "Pat Riley, an obnoxious busybody of undeterminable sex, meets and falls in love with Chris, a sensitive, caring person also of undeterminable sex. Their relationship suffers because Pat's a lout, and cannot decide on a direction for its life. Meanwhile, Pat's neighbor Kyle falls further and further into obsession with Pat, fascinated by its indeterminate sexuality." Fascinating. With its layers of uncertainty and obbsessions with indeterminate sexuality, this movie would have explored a hitherto unknown kind of ..umm.. indeterminate relationships!


And not to be left very far behind is our very own desi Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag. Legendary movie must say. Only Indian movie in any IMDb list!

As Ed Wood would articulate about such a movie:
"This story's gonna grab people. It's about this guy, he's crazy about this girl, but he likes to wear dresses. Should he tell her? Should he not tell her? He's torn, Georgie. This is drama."

Yes, On The Dark Knight

The most talked about movie of the year. The most reviewed movie of the year. The most written about movie of the year. But i'm still going to write about The Dark Knight because its the best movie to come out in years and because i feel there's a need to defend its No. 3 spot on IMDB.

The Dark Knight starts off from where Batman Begins left off, only its a whole new level of movie making and characterisation altogether. If BB explored the origins and beginning of Batman, TDK explores Batman's flaws, limitations and still yet the symbology of what Batman stands for.

Let me do away with the conventional praise of effects, technical brilliance and acting. The movie truly hinges and revolves around the manic and brilliant performance of Heath Ledger as The Joker. There are some actors who understand their roles like seasoned performers and come up with great performances. And then again, there are some who just possess the character, make it their own. The Joker as a performance and as a character is truly complete in itself. The Joker begins of as somewhat of a loony, with fuzzy intentions. But as the story progresses we realise what he's doing; playing with the psychology of Gotham and its heroes, turning good into bad, order into chaos, rules into anarchy and hope into despair. While his origins are very cleverly hidden (multiple stories on his scar) to make the character complete; an agent of chaos, we come to realise that here's a villian who's not motivated by money, greed or revenge but simply by a desire to see the world burn and turn into madness. Joker is the true story teller here, conjuring up a master psychological play.

However, the essence of the story lies in the symbology of Batman. As a physical entity we come to realise that he's vulnerable, not limitless. But as a symbol; of hope or despair he can be anything. And he understands this precisely by saving Dent's image in the end. Batman is what Gotham needs him to be. A flawed hero for a flawed world.

What Nolan has delivered here is an Empire Strikes Back of a Batman movie; a masterpiece depicting a superhero as he would be in a true world and a morality which is real, not out of a comic book. And we're likely to see a Batman redeeming himself in the next; The Return of Batman perhaps?

What's your story?

"When the doors of perception are cleansed, man will see things as they truly are, infinite" - William Blake

Story telling is one of those great art forms, which not only entertains but also has the ability to render different perceptions of this world to us. But when it comes to oneself, most of us don't have a very fertile imagination. Reality is pretty mundane isn't it? Why is finding a story for your life elusive?

Being unofficially rechristened as IMDB, it should be no surprise when i use cinema as my muse. Big Fish (2003), King of California (2007) & Kung Fu Panda (2008) are movies that are great stories in themselves. But the point they are trying to drive is larger, and one which makes story telling such an effective medium. Big Fish is about a son learning about his dying father through stories and myths about him. Stories which seem to be concocted out of a fertile imagination are actually very clever metaphors. King of California is about a mentally unstable father trying to convince his daughter that there is Spanish treasure buried somewhere below California. And well, Kung Fu Panda is one of those totally kickass Jack Black movies about your dreams and purpose in life (with awesome kung fu, awesome dialogues and sheer awesomeness). Now, before you start branding me an escapist with rose tinted glasses, theres something common to all these movies, and at the heart of these movies. And thats the use of stories,myths and imaginations to tell us how important perception is to the way we see reality. So whether its having an adventurous life, a purpose in the madness or achieving awesomeness (:D got to see that again). That perception is the looking glass through which we see this world. And that our lives can be just as special, just as full of story as we want it to be. And thats a very powerful message, existential even, that we have the ability to change the perception.

Now theres a difference in thinking that everything is hunky-dory always and things will always work out. But we, all of us, do have the answer to our existential concerns in ourselves. Just open the different doors.Infinite doors.

Into the Wild

Have you ever had the feeling of giving it all up; the money, the society, the comforts , the purpolessness and just get away from the madding crowd? Well, i have had that feeling now and then. But stand alone impulses are little more than escapist thoughts. That someone my age actually had the courage and conviction to do this and test his own limits of existence is the subject of this blog.

I recently got a chance to watch the incredible movie 'Into the Wild' by Sean Penn. Its based on a true story of a 23 year old guy Christopher McCandless. Christopher was a top student, athlete and a generally liked guy. The kind you would expect to end up with a college degree and become the alpha male he is expected to be. But contrary to every expectation, Christopher donated all his life savings to charity, burnt all the money he had and set off on a journey; in search of 'truth'. Its partly a spiritual quest and partly a journey to get away from the society that has put him in the bondage of money and comforts. The movie deals with his journey across US, the people he meets and his ultimate sojourn in the wilderness in Alaska, where he tragically perishes.

The story is more than that of a lost youth, or of a rebel going against conventional wisdom and family. The soul of the movie is in this spiritual journey that Chris undertakes to know 'truth' and the various people he meets on this journey that leave an indelible mark on his psyche and vice versa. And ultimately, in the wilderness, Chris realises the utter helplessness of a man faced with the raw power of nature.

This spiritual quest of Chris makes him realize that happiness is true only when shared. But ironically, the ruthlessness of the wild leads to his untimely death, all of 23 years, alone in the wild. The parting shot of the movie is easily one of the tragic ones i have seen.

Full marks must go to Sean Penn, Emil Hirsche, the cinematographer for the awesome use of camera to portray both the beauty and power of nature and Eddie Vedder for a soundtrack that'll blow your mind away. And although the movie ends on a tragic note, the heart of the movie is anything but tragic, its one of intellectual freedom, the spirit of questioning and the enormous courage of one man faced against this crazy world. Watch it. It'll change the way you think.

My Fair Ladies

There are two things that interest me a lot : Cinema and any "Top 10" lists (eg. the top 10 ways not to tear off your hair in desperation in a Karan Johar movie ; of which atleast two would be a) not to watch it and b) be bald). And so the idea for this blog ; although i would limit myself to "top 5" as 10 would be too much of a strain on my mental faculties and to English movies only. So without further ado, my favourite five female characters in English movies :

1) Clementine Kruckzynski (Kate Winslet) ; Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind : Everything about her is different (rather eccentric?) . She colours her hair Orange (and blue). Her name is Clementine Kruckzynski (whoa!). She has that crazy spunk in her which makes her talk to complete strangers. She likes going to the frozen lake, on a freezing night, to watch the frozen stars. And...she listens to hindi songs (she does!). And it is this arbitrary craziness about her which makes her so likeable. Its the likeability of the uncertainty (and chaos) in her. And the amazing chemistry with Jim Carrey only makes the contrast in their personalities all the more stark. O my darling, O my darling, O my darling Clementine....

2)Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) ; When Harry Met Sally : The quintessential "Girl next door" with a difference.The sometimes confused, sometimes finicky , yet always likeable girl with a penchant of placing food orders in an excruciating detail. What makes you like the character is also the fact that you see her over a period of 12 years , in all her transitional glory. But truly speaking, its Meg Ryan that makes it really memorable. She makes it believably real. Sally is the "Girl next door" we all wish we had.






3)Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) ; Roman Holiday : Audrey Hepburn. A princess. That about sums it up i guess. But its that innocence, purity and grace of the character played superbly by Hepburn that makes it stand apart. Its rare to find such portrayals now. And its impossible to find Audrey Hepburns in this age of publicity beauties. I guess i have mixed up the character and the actress ; but its rather difficult to speak of them in different terms, isnt it? To me, they are the same







4)Celine (Julie Delpy) ; Before Sunrise/Sunset : The French accent does make me biased. But jokes apart, she is the woman who is intelligent, has a sense of humour and is beautiful too. Now that defies the whole beauty*brains=constant logic (feminists, have a sense of humour or a bad memory atleast :D). And again, you see such contrasting dimensions of her personalities in the two movies; the young hopeful one and the older pragmatic and cynic one, that the dual traits of strength and vulnerability make this character appear really feminine. And of course, the song sung by Julie Delpy : " Let me sing you a waltz....."




5) Beatrix Kiddo/The Bride/Black Mamba (Uma Thurman) ; Kill Bill : For the record, I never really liked the movies that much. So , its a revenge saga, done in style, with a twist, but nothing really great. But Uma Thurman makes it worthwhile. She is a gangster, bride and a revenge seeking woman in the same movie. She rides bikes, knows kung-fu and ruthlessly kills legions of enemy single handedly. And all with great style. She is the suave ruthless chic with an agenda of vengeance. Beatrix Kiddo rocks!
P.S. My personal fav? O my darling..... la la la la... can you beat blue hair? :)

Where's the Witch?

Art, they say, imitates Life.

But Life, in its myriad avatars must be a tough customer, to know and judge, let alone imitate with precision. Yet, now and then, you find seemingly unrelated pieces of Art, born out of different circumstances, alluding to the same facet of this sometimes enigmatic, sometimes repugnant Life. And this makes you realise that you dont need a Theory of eternal return ala Nietzshe to learn from life. You just need to have the willingness to observe and learn.

With this somewhat vague premise i would like to knit a thread through three pieces of Art i have seen/read recently, all of which reflect the same skewed image of Life

1) Die Blechtrommel - The Tin Drum - This German masterpiece by Gunter Grass is an account of the world as seen through the eyes of a dwarf, Oscar Matzerath, who decides to stop growing at the age of three because he is disgusted by the hypocrisy of adult world. Set in years preceding and following WW2 , its a scathing dissection not only of the tragedy and insanity of war but also the general decadence and hollowness of modern lives.

2) The Catcher in the Rye - J.D.Salinger - "Its a phoney world"
A book which at the same time appears as an honest account of teenage angst against the "system" and also a delusion with the way this world works. Set in the 40's, this book broke all stereotypes; be it with the use of language by its protagaonist - Holden Caulfied-or the theme. But what to most, might appear, as a delusioned adoloscent, was simply a guy fed up with the moral hypocrisy of the world.

3) The Taxi Driver - directed by Martin Scorsese - "You talkin to me?"
A masterpiece in its own right. Robert De Niro plays the taxi driver Travis Brickle, who, again, fed up with the moral decadence, decides to take things into his hand and rescues a young prostitute from a brothel. Not much of a story at surface. But the portrayal of the angst of a common man and the reality of the world is hard-hitting.

Three seemingly different works of Art dealing with things as different as Holocaust, teenage angst and moral decadence, somehow give an image of Life thats not too different. However different might the circumstances be, but you can see Oscar morph into Holden or Holden growing up to become a Travis with ease. They are all rebels, against the hypocrisy and ideological double standards of our societies. And they are all heroes in their own ways. Not your quintessential supermanesque heroes, but humans who see truth and react to it, not necessarily mitigating things wrong with our society, but atleast reacting.

And this teaches us one more lesson about human nature. That deep down, somewhere, we are all part of that moral decadence. All of us.

Always somewhere behind me, the Black Witch.
Now ahead of me, too, facing me, Black.
Black words, black coat, black money.
But if children sing, they sing no longer:
where's the Witch, black as pitch?
Here's the black, wicked Witch.
Ha! ha! ha!

P.S. I am not a fatalist/pessimist. I observe, therefore i write.