As I was reading the previous blog ‘More updates’ one of the bullets read ‘Movies besides books as main menu - since we all love movies :)’…the light in my brain just went off as my thoughts drifted towards this movies that I saw last week- ‘Dus Kahaniya’. It is a really interesting undertaking. I would probably not classify it as a movie. It is more like a series of really short stories; interesting stories, mostly predictable, but not boring and no dull and drag moment.
My favorite short movie was ‘Rise and Fall’. Interesting irony in the lives of two mafia dons. The attempt to do an O’Henry with the religious discord angle in ‘Stranger in the night’ is pretty good. Overall it is worth a see.

Movies is another thing from my list of addictions - I follow this ‘protocol’ - I pick the first and the last movie that I have not seen before from the public library and I watch it. I run into some of the most interesting movies that I would have never picked otherwise.

‘Zorba the Greek’ is one such movie worth sharing. Made in 1964, this movie won 3 academy awards and was nominated for 7 that year. Its a beautiful movie shot on-location in the Greek island of Crete.

Zorba is the kind of person everyone would want to be; he knows how to have fun (flirting with women), how to get over the pains (dancing to the Greek tunes), how to live life to the full (trying just about everything). Zorba starts working with an uptight British author trying to run a mine he inherited. Movie is about how Zorba teaches the author to start enjoying life even when the biggest project of his life fails.

There are incidents and cultural drama that can be offending to some but if you can see past that as something which happened in 1964, its a movie you will have fun watching.

What was it really about? Did it convey one over powering uniform message? Or a confluence of integrated themes that splashed upon each other competing for superiority?

Was the movie a commentary on sexism? Or was it about 2 kinds of games –one played by ‘non-cricket’ players (who have lost the love for playing for their country) and the other played by the Indian Hockey Federation in its politics? And then there is that theme that unites Telgu and Tamil despite their Punjabi-Bihari differences! Maybe this ‘Lagaan meets Bend it Like Beckham’ saga was really about the spirit of the underdog. Of course, with one important difference—the absence of a common ‘enemy’; the arrogant East India Company in the former case and orthodox Punjabi parents struggling with an identity crisis in the latter!

If anything, this film was not about SRK. And that’s enough to raise eyebrows of even the softest of film critics. The absence of an Abhishek or Saif made such a restrained performance even more creditable. No unnecessary quivering of lips, no love interest, no overshadowing anyone, period. In fact, my last recollection of SRK sharing cinematic frames with a bunch of ‘plebeians’ goes as far back as the popular 90s TV show, Circus. And that was a long time ago!

Wait till it rains one day, make a nice warm cup of masala tea, take the warmest blanket, drop down the temperature to the lowest, switch off the lights and watch the latest Vishal Bharadwaj presentation - “The Blue Umbrella” a movie on the novel by the same name and written by Ruskin Bond.

A treat for those who are tired of the fast paced life, for those are tired of the chaos, tired of the monotony, tired of the oppressive heat…. the list is ofcourse endless.

Ruskin Bond is well known for capturing the lifestyle of people living on the foothills of Himalayas into his simple yet flavor full stories. Stories which, while reading, bring back the smell of simmering tea, tinkling cow bells, simple people and the picture of a typical village with its mukhiyas, tea shops and a solitary postman. I have read almost his entire collection and luckily I had missed this particular one.

To say that the movie captures the Ruskin Bond flavor superbly is the first and the simplest compliment I can give. Every character has been aptly chosen. The movie set and cinematography are superb again. For the photographers this movie gives a million ideas. For those who love children this movie brings out the little child within you. The movie’s music just like the rain and an excellent soundtrack which take on a whole new meaning while watching the movie. The performance by Pankaj Kapoor as the greedy tea shop owner is simply par excellence.

The movie is based on a little girl called Biniya who trades her only piece of jewelery for a large and bright blue Japanese umbrella. Soon the umbrella is the talk of her village and envy of a local tea shop owner who becomes obsessed with the umbrella. The umbrella goes with her everywhere, in rain, in sunshine, in snowstorm and even used for scaring off snakes and she soon becomes the local favorite of all tourists and village people alike. The tea shop owner tries to fool Biniya into barter of the umbrella with his many tempting offers but to no avail. Alas! the umbrella is lost one day, never to be found again. The poor child is very sad and cannot forget her dear possession, she accuses the tea shop owner of stealing the umbrella and from there the movie takes an interesting twist. Will she find her umbrella again? I must insist that you watch the movie.

So just wait for the rain one day…. and you know the rest!

A PECK ON THE CHEEK….This is the name of a wonderful Mani Ratnam movie that I watched past weekend. It is a very well made movie (there are some glitches and in my opinion non-required songs). It is a story about a girl, who was abandoned by her biological mother, adopted by a lovely couple and sets out with her foster parent to find her biological mother (who is involved in guerrilla warfare in Sri Lanka). I found this movie great because in a manner it propagates the idea of adoption; an idea that I hold very close to my heart. Adoption should not be viewed as the last hope for couple who, for whatever reason, could not have their own baby. Even animals in general take good care of their young ones; in fact there have been some rare incidents (not those mentioned in fables) where an animal from one species took care of the young one of other species. At least we as human beings, the supreme species, can have a better attitude towards our own species.

http://www.filmmovement.com/filmcatalog/index.asp?MerchandiseID=56

Apart from this movie per say, I found out about filmmovement.com. If you are a movie buff like myself and enjoy independent and no-commercial theme based movies, this is a really interesting site.

I don’t know if people have heard of this upcoming movie “Gandhi, my father”. It is a story of the strained relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his eldest son Harilal, who deviated from Gandhi’s path to get the love and attention his father deprived him of. The movie was premiered past weekend in
Johannesburg, South Africa. South African President Thabo Mbeki said after watching the movie said that the film was a gift to the people of the world and that is showed that Mahatma had made great sacrifices for the greater good.

In my opinion Gandhi was a great man, and in fact the whole world accepts this fact. It is said that behind every successful man there is a woman; the support and sacrifice of people behind these great men almost always is not acknowledged. Having said this, I am glad that someone decided to tell their story and what better candidate than Gandhi’s family. I am really looking forward to this movie with high expectations.