Jaan Pechan Ho, Steve Buscemi and Indian style Rock
/*Spoiler Alerts
There is a scene in Ghost World when Enid ( Thora Birch), asksSeymour ( Steve Buscemi), “Do you have any old Indian records?”. When Seymour does not quiet understand what she is referring to Enid describes You know, like weird 1960’s Indian rock n’ roll music. So whats this reference to Indian rock n roll music in a movie about 2 teen females, in American suburbia. Why would an American teen have this fascination for old Indian style rock n roll which was a rage in the 60’s.
Jaan Pechan Ho Song from Gumnaam
Well for that go to the opening credits. As the opening credits flashed on for Ghost World, i was surprised to see the Gumnaam club number Jaan Pechan Ho sung by Rafi, and no its not in the background, you actually get to see Laxmi Chaaya boogeying to Shankar Jaikishan’s music, with the dancers around doing those pelvis grind routines, that were a must in most of the 60’s flicks. What was this old 60’s number doing in an quintessentially American movie ? Or did the DVD guy do some kind of switcheroo here, putting English titles on a Hindi song? Well honestly i knew not much about Ghost World, in fact i picked it up, cause the DVD said it had one of my favorites Steve Buscemi.
Now wait the weird 60’s style Indian rock n roll song is not the only thing odd about Ghost World, contrary to it’s title the movie has nothing to do with Ghosts, good, bad or ugly. And what’s more it has Steve Buscemi in the romantic lead. Steve Buscemi!!! Romantic lead are you kidding? I love Steve, i think he is one of the best actors the other side of the Atlantic, but considering Hollywood most of the time keeps casting him in roles, that are neurotic, crazy or pyschotic, one does not really see Steve as a romantic lover kind. We thought those kinda roles were for the Richard Geres and Orlando Blooms, whats Steve doing here? But then nothing is what you would call normal in director Terry Zwigoff’s movie adaptation of the graphic series by Daniel Clowes.
The story itself centers around two friends Enid and Rebecca( Scarlett Johansson, in her teen days), both of them misfits, both of them kinda rebels who hate the existing pop culture around them. When we see the opening credits, the camera keeps swtching between the song and the windows all lit blue within, in one flat a bored couple watching TV, n another one a guy watching some Home Shopping program, and we dont see Enid in close just her silhoutte, as she keeps dancing to the song, mimicking Lakshmi Chaya’s routines. Hmm makes me wonder are 60’s songs popular in US and UK? Maybe people from there could give a better idea. Or is that considering Enid wants to be different, she picks up this song.
Enid and Rebecca have finished their high school graduation, but clearly they are apart from the crowd, as the initial scenes depict. In fact nothing better than that particular bit, when Enid comes out and gives the middle finger to the school, indicating her distaste for the normal education. Like Little Miss Sunshine, Ghost World also keeps poking fun at the American pop culture, through Enid and Rebecca. Enid’s joy at being released from school is however short lived, when she learns that she has to take a stupid arts course at summer school, because she had failed in it.
We see more of Enid when she calls the most popular students “the creepy faces”. Both of them dont want to do the conventional education, a bit of free spirits. Bored one day, they make a crank call to a guy in the Personals section, and telling him that Enid is the woman he is infatuated with. Thye wait for the guy along with their friend Josh, who is brainy, and reluctantly keeps tagging along with the two girls. In a great scene, Seymour turns up, just waits and goes away. Enid begins to feel sorry for him, and begins to follow him. And she does meet him at a garage sale, where he is disposing off some of his old LP records. Another retro reference here, those were the records of our Dad’s times, not found nowadays and more of a collector’s item. Enid ultimately ends up buying an old Memphis Minnies, blues, again another reference to the 20’s blues singer. In fact music composer David Kitay, pays a retro tribute throughout the OST, mostly to the LP’s of blues and calypso singer. And making Seymour’s character as a collector of old 78RPM records sets it up well here. And slowly Enid finds that she is actually beginning to like Seymour.
Ghost World does have a love story, but its a much different kind of love story from the standard Reese Witherspoon rom coms. Ghost World deals with characters that are deep and relationships which are layered. And nothing more layered than Enid herself, whose character has multiple shades of grey. On one level Enid seems to feel more sympathy for Seymour than love. She likes him, but not really sure, maybe because he is much older than her. But the common bond between both of them is loneliness. Enid hates the fake pseudo attitude of the girls around her, and her art teacher, she wants to lead her own life. In a way Enid has the typical teen phase, u know its the kind where you want to belong to the group, and yet want to be seen as different. Seymour himself is a loner, some one who seems to be in a retro world, collecting old 78 rpm records.
So what we have here is an odd relationship which moves at its own pace. At the other level is Enid herself. What kind of girl is she? She seems to be a I dont care bad ass kind, considering she keeps using cuss words which good girls should not be using. She dyes her hair green, and feels “Everybody is too stupid”. Enid’s character is the strength of this movie, you are fascinated by her care a damn attitude, her disregard for social niceties. But then Enid does not fit into the liberal category either, as shown by the way her “progressive art teacher” does not think highly of her drawings. The scene where Enid drags along Rebecca to a party of elder guys discussing old retro songs is a real chuckle. Another great scene is where Enid tries to set up a date for Seymour, who feels he is some kind of loser, and could never really get a girl. Lovely scene, coz it gives the insights into both Enid and more into Seymour.
Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi
Another fabulous scene is when both Enid and Seymour walk into a porno shop, Seymour is all sweaty and blushing, Enid is cool playing around with the toys. But for all his meek and soft spoken nature, Seymour could be really cranky at times, as when he goes to a bar and finds the 20 something guys ignoring a lovely blues number. Another great scene when Enid gets a job as a candy counter attendant at a movie theater, and the way she pisses off her customers and her boss.
What works for Ghost World is the mixture of quirky tongue in cheek humour, the well written characters and some poignant humour. Unlike other rom coms or teen flicks, this one has characters who have depth, and relationships that are well explored. As a lay audience, i have one major rule of thumb, to judge how good a movie it is, did it get me interested? And by that criteria Ghost World does, at every stage it made me interested in Enid, Rebecca and Seymour. It made me think about their relationships, unlike most of the rom coms, which just left me yawning.
And of course Steve Buscemi and Thora Birch are just fantastic. Birch who played Kevin Spacey’s daughter in American Beauty, is first rate here, bringing out Enid’s cattiness, her cranky nature, in a performance totally natural and unaffected. Scarlet Johannsonn in her teen avatar, is pretty good in the sensible foil she plays to Birch’s Enid. While Rebecca hates the world around her, she is a bit more pragmatic compared to Enid. But its Steve Buscemi who really rocks in a role much different from the standard pyscho, weirdo roles he usually plays. Buscemi for me has been one of the most underrated actors , and here he is brilliant. Watch him in the scene in the porno shop where he is all sweaty and blushing, cracker. Or the scene when discovering he has been used by Enid goes into a rage. What an actor is all i can say. Its sad that Hollywood never really exploited his talent, mostly casting him in weirdo roles. Ghost World really proves his vast talent.
Tags: 60s Songs, Ghost World, Graphic Comics, Jaan Pechan Ho, Rafi, Scarlet Johannsoon, Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
yay…finally a post on my beloved Ghost World.
this movie is often compared to American Beauty as a study of the ’suburbia’ – the American utopian idea of having happy families living in cloned neighborhoods away from city crime with their lawns, community centers, and local restaurants. but in truth these suburban areas are devoid of the culture that cities offer…and it’s no wonder so many stories about dysfunctional families and people are based here.
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this movie also reminded me of Maya Memsaab…about a person who herself does not know what she wants from life.
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there is not much interest in 60s indian music in america. that was probably just the director’s own taste. i recommended this movie to a white friend and when he saw it he didn’t even realize that Jaan Pehchan Ho was an indian song. however, i saw the movie with an iranian friend and he was highly impressed with the song. then i played ‘inteha ho gayi’ from sharaabi for him and he became a 60s and 70s indian music fan.
Papaji, whew thanks to see a great comment. Love this movie. It is a satire on suburbia, but not as dark as American Beauty or Ice Storm. Its more of a light hearted look, but what i loved is the way the director explores the characters of Enid and Seymour. Especially Enid, one of the best female characters i have seen on screen. Also by putting in many funny moments, the director makes sure the movie does not become too depressing and heavy. I did hear about shallow the suburbia life is. Well most of the Iranians and Arabs love Indian songs, especially from the 60’s and 70’s.
I think even in the movie Enid is not too impressed with the song, though she boogies to it at the opening. Thora Birch is a real wonderful actress, she was fabulous in American Beauty, but here she is just killer.
Ratnakar, Ghost World is nearly as dark as American Beauty: Both main characters end up in the same place. The difference is that Lester Burnham learns something, while Enid is oblivious to everything around her until the very last moment when she catches on and decides to leave this world.
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Enid represents disaffected youth, of which we have an abundance here. The way I understood her, she was a marginalized character, and so she behaved as if her words and actions don’t matter to people. In reality, her deeds mattered a LOT to the people she interacted with, including her father, her best friend, Seymour (whose life she f***s up), the guy who maybe likes her, etc.
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I think Zwigoff was showing her marginalization by having her like music that “no one” else likes (Jaan Pechan Ho), wearing styles that no one else wears, finding a guy that no one else could love who also cares about obscure music and then toying with him, and having a best friend who also is excluded from social circles and “normal” life choices. She doesn’t really care for anyone as much as she tries them on for size to figure out how they define her iconoclasm.
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BTW, Ghost World was my first exposure to Bollywood music. :-D
Evelyn, well for me Ghost World did not really end up as dark as American Beauty, maybe because overall the movie had a sort of tragi comic feel. Also the last scene was shown in an open ended, metaphorical manner, leaving the audience guessing.
Again was Enid really marginalized or because she choose to be. Like in the scene when she is fired from her first job, its obvious she was plainly not interested in doing it, and thats the way she behaves with the customers. For that matter she does not seem to love the Jaan Pehchaan Ho song much either, though she gets some kind of taste for Bollywood songs or Indian 60s’ rock and roll.
Regarding Seymour being the kind of guy none could love, i think again he choose to be that way. He feels no girl would go out with him, and so he spends life collecting old records. Only time he cares about some one its Enid, and she lets him down badly.
True, I was unsure of what the bus she left on meant until a friend convinced me that it was quite clear.
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Enid is the kind of unpopular girl who decides to run with the label given her and live it large. So, she is both victim and perpetrator.
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Seymour is a guy who’d rather not try for love because it never works out anyway. Then Enid leads him to think he could actually have love, only to break his heart in two ways, to really hammer home his sad-sackness.
Evelyn one more reason, why Ghost World does not appear as dark as AB or Ice Storm, is also the director focuses more on teen angst and loneliness, not much on extra marital affairs or broken families. Enid does not seem to come from a broken family, and regarding Rebecca’s family nothing is known. The only tragic note is that of Seymour in the end.
Also Enid tries to be different from other teens, but like a typical teen is as confused as ever about what she wants to do. Rebecca though a rebel, still feels one should try to fit in to an extent. I did have a friend like Enid, totally pysched out, while i was somewhat like Rebecca, a bit of a rebel, but willing to fit in.
Regarding Seymour’s love life, he does have a good relationship with Dana, whom Enid sets up for him. But he breaks off with her, as he feels she is not upto him mentally.
Again at this aspect Enid’s confusion comes to picture, she sets up Seymour with Dana, but later begins to get jealous.
Enid facilitated Seymour’s relationship with Dana, who never was a good intellectual match for him. However, she’s pretty and she’s a woman and he’s lonely, so he goes for it. But when Enid becomes more interested in him, Dana suddenly becomes less interesting. Enid’s not confused, per se, she’s aimless and gets a kick out of manipulating people.
Let’s just say that all three of the movies you reference feature characters who think they are more aware than anyone else because they are staring into the vast existential void of life’s meaninglessness. In the end, they learn that the simple things “normal” people enjoy may not be so pointless.
@ Evelyn
The reason I touched suburbia in my comment is because I think a large part of the reason for Enid’s actions arises out of boredom. She’s living her life in a place where she doesn’t fit in and there isn’t much to do. I don’t think she would get a kick out of manipulating people if she found something that interested her…like art. But since the town people are unable to understand the intentions behind her ‘offensive’ artwork, she loses all hope. I believe that had her work been accepted, she could have channeled her creativity and enegry into being a critic of pop culture…a be a rebel with a cause. That way she would also not pathetically bank on Rebecca or Seymore to be as lonely or cut off from the normal world as she is. Their company gave her hope that there are more like her. But they weren’t like her in the end. If her art got her any accolades, it would serve the same purpose. People’s company or the belief that someone out there understood her would have been good enough for her to not take that bus (to 2046?).
Also i believe that the suburbia are more like a cross between city life and a small town. They try to have all the facilities of a big city in a more small town atmosphere, and end up neither here nor there. They neither have the warmth and comfort feeling of a small town, nor do they simulate any kind of radical or creative thinking like the Big city. Also papaji, Enid hated art, or maybe she hated her liberal arts teacher. You see while she hates the shallow pop culture, she equally hates her art teachers pseudo liberal attitude.
papaji, the suburban setting is key to Ghost World, but it is set there because the story wouldn’t work if Enid was in a big city where there are lots of other kids like her.
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Enid was born nihilistic, but it was not because of any particularly extreme family dysfunction. Her life was actually rather easy. Instead, she rocked her defiant attitude because it was easier to mock the sea of ordinariness than it was to come up with a direction of her own.
Evelyn Tu, agreed with most of what you said. But Enid only had fun “mocking the sea of ordinariness” as long as Rebecca or Seymoure were there by her side. So I do think had she gotten seriously into some form of public art (which she was close to with the art display and the art school scholarship) she could have escaped her lonely destiny. Enid wasn’t necessarily “born nihilistic.” As you said, it was just the easier way out. Actually I think because her life was easy she turned out that way. Had she been born in poverty she might have been driven to achieve more earthly and humble goals…such as making a decent living.
“Had she been born in poverty she might have been driven to achieve more earthly and humble goals”
Well actually poorer people dont have the luxury of being nihilistic, for them life is more like survival. Again for all her nihilism, she had no qualms in stealing a poster and passing it off as her own work of art.
papaji, definitely, nihilism is for those who have the luxury to think about it.
“nihilism is for those who have the luxury to think about it.”
Is that why most of history’s famous rebels be it Che or Lenin or Castro have been from upper class borgeouis families? Even most of the Indian freedom fighters have been from society’s upper crust, as were the Naxal revolutionaries of the 70’s. I guess this is what Sudhir Mishra explored in HKA.
Sorry to distract you all from your discussion on the movie… but talkin bout hollywood movies with a hindi track reminded me of ‘The Inside Man’ starring Denzel Washington. Tht movie started with ‘Chaiya Chaiya’ and it had no relevance whatsoever with the rest of the movie.
I would attribute it to the directors who probably come across world music and decide to use it in their next movie.
Like.. No Smoking?
one of my alltime favourite movies. thora birch is one of the greatest young american actresses. wonder why she does not act more.
@ CBJK: Thora Birch is a great actress for sure, but i guess she is choosy about her movies. She does appear at times in real stinkers like Dungeons and Dragons, but she is more of an indie, art house heroine, like my other favorite Jennifer Connely.
Ratnakar,
i see what you’re trying to say at 16., and yes i think privileged upbringing does give one more time to play with ideas. but i think it has also got to do with the fact that they have the resources to pursue their ideologies. a poor man can only rant about the system even if he has genuine concerns and revolutionary ideas to fix it. a rich man however, has all the money, power, connections etc at his disposal to do so. another factor which is important is education. almost all revolutionaries/freedom fighters have been educated people. since in colonial india western education was only available to the elite, they got exposure to ideals of freedom struggle to achieve autonomy and what not. but the naxal movement had a lot of middle class ppl in it too because by the 70s part of the middle class india could read about lenin, mao etc and be inspired. so it’s not just about being powerful…but about being exposed to a certain version (many times skewed) of history, ideology, politics, and socio-economics that can only happen through education. heck, even the top al qaeda leaders are doctors and engineers. makes you wonder about how easily information can be distorted. and we are supposed to be living in the ‘information age’.
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also, i don’t think Enid was necessarily a nihilist. she was searching for something to believe in…
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Enid liked art. she did sketches all the time. yeah she did hate her pseudo-intellectual art teacher but found some respect for her when her teacher likes the controversial poster. i think Enid was expecting her teacher to reject that piece as well but she was pleasantly surprised that her teacher actually understood the motive and meaning of that artwork.
Some great discussion on here.
“But then Enid does not fit into the liberal category either, as shown by the way her '¬progressive art teacher'® does not think highly of her drawings. ”
Very well put, one of the chief reasons why the movie is quite a neighborhood/suburbia classic, the actors and the underlined Ennui,disillusion of the youth(finding odd jobs, love lives, hobbies), that crazy friend which you often pick on for no reason at all and end up embarrassing him at the one thing he does….Ghost World was quite a milestone in neighborhood cinema, more comparable to the likes of Ice Storm, Tully, Slacker, Safety of Objects, Virgin Suicides etc.
This is one of my favorite films. Enid always reminded me of a girl I’ve known for a while, because of the interest in weird movies and music, thrift store clothing, art, and the personality.
Clowes and Zwigoff have a good feel for the types of people who inhabit a certain environment, whether it is strip mall suburbia in Ghost World or art school in Art School Confidential. But they do have compassion for most of them, even if they are sometimes laughable. In GW, even the art teacher, who initially comes off as a pretentious artist, understands the intent of Enid’s Coon Chicken painting.
Just as the film is a commentary on the stifling blandness of suburbia, it is also a commentary on perceptions of art. Something like “Tampon in a Teacup,” which is basically a teenage girl’s ham-fisted way of making a statement through art, is recognized, probably because of its “artsiness,” while Enid’s reproduction of the Coon Chicken sign, which dredges up a very real racist past, is misunderstood and protested. People are okay with art as long as it doesn’t truly challenge the viewer. Enid may have been self-centered and childish and callous towards people at times, but she wasn’t completely without redeeming qualities. Artists are notoriously socially maladjusted :-)
Yayi.. loved the movie.. and thanks for the reco.. Its what a movie!!!
Love the sarcasm and the tone of the movie. And the ending is super.. with the coon thing and the no service bus!!
Jaan Pehechan ho tho zindagi aasaan ho, i think the director chose this song cause its so anti-apt for this movie!!!