Meenaxi- with reverence
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Koi mile ki bichade, yahan kisko kya padi hai
Sab log chal rahe hain, duniya yahin khadi hai
Khamoshiyon se kahiye chalkar zara pukaarein
Khwabon ke jangalon se aayin hain kya bahaarein
Neendon ka yeh zamaana bas aur do ghadi hai
Sab log chal rahein hain duniya yahin khadi hai
Aankhon mein khushboo ke manzar wahin khilenge
Lagta hai chalte chalte khud se wahin mileinge
Manzil hamare kad se bas do kadam badi hai
Sab log chal rahein hain duniya yahin khadi hai
The only way to watch this movie is to completely submit to it- it automatically puts you in a trance and you start to move with its flow, like a Sufi dervish. One must not think, for the mind will break the trance, just allow Meenaxi to hypnotize you. When you begin to flow with the movie, you understand and recognize everything with a sense you did not know you possessed.
The very first time that the name of Nawaab’s character is mentioned, it sounds like magic. A name that I’ve heard many times before suddenly seems to be transformed into a mystical sound and I am immediately deeply intrigued by this Meenaxi. Nawaab is just as mystified and captivated by her.
He is at his sister’s mehendi ceremony when she appears- in white- the very first glimpse of Meenaxi’s flowing white attire sends shivers down my spine and my hair stands on its end- there is no mistaking that this is no ordinary lady- there is some divinity about her. Nawaab senses her around and looks over his shoulder and there she is- a vision of purity in white. She is always close but one cannot reach out and touch her. She is so many things at once that I am overcome with a feeling that defies description.
Meenaxi and Nawaab
The song Noor-Un-Allah in the background gives us subtle clues about Meenaxi- someone whom I had not known a few minutes back, but who has suddenly caused such a stir in my mind. I know she is not a mere human- I am further intrigued. Noor-Un-Allah deepens my trance- it is a devotional song that praises the Supreme power in a manner that is more profound than anything I’ve ever read or heard- MF Hussain praises Him as the source of all creation and all inspiration- he sees the work of the Lord in everything around him- flowers, leaves, birds, music, the sound of anklets, the love between man and woman, colours, the path, the destination- Chaaron Taraf. In every particularly blissful moment in my life, the chant of Chaaron Taraf always comes to my mind- what a profound and utterly blissful statement of devotion!
It is after his sister is married and gone that Nawaab enters his haveli. The camera looks up at him- Nawaab is walking with his head down- he is deep in thought as he enters- he is in a room full of books blowing the dust off his binoculars. A brilliant play of light at the door announces an entrance. Meenaxi who now seems to be a physical manifestation of pure sunlight enters.
The journey of discovering the essence of Meenaxi now begins. It would be brutal to try and define all that Meenaxi is and so I will refrain from doing so. The greatest quality of the movie is that it is abstract, and that is how it should be- logic kills the beauty of art- logic is for the mind while art is for the soul and Meenaxi is definitely for the soul. Meenaxi introduces herself as someone who sells itr (perfume) requests Nawaab to write about her.
Kahaani ki shuruaat to aap ek shakal se kar sakte hain, ek ehsaas se kar sakte hain, aur kabhi ek khushboo se ich kar sakte hain.
The movie has a fragrance of its own. I associate a strong, earthy, natural and mystical fragrance with it- the smell of sandalwood and musk.
Tabu
Meenaxi at first is playful, teasing Nawaab about the fact that he hasn’t been writing, and expressing her disapproval mildly. Nawaab feels that he is in control- he is after all the narrator- he has absolute authority and control of the story. He sometimes shuns her as a novice and sometimes ridicules her, though he is fully aware of his own shortcomings. Meenaxi sits beside him as he writes- she seems hesitant at first to make any suggestions- she objects to the names of the characters, and mentions that the characters are not well developed, but only makes brief remarks. She mentions that she gets impatient sometimes, especially about things that are associated with her- a casually stated remark but deeply restrained. She goes on to tell Nawaab that she wants to experience, understand and live the character of Meenaxi through the story but that he fails to understand her. She tells him that she wants to experience a different kind of relationship. By now I know that Meenaxi is the character of Nawaab’s story. A character whom he refuses to understand. He is unable to separate Meenaxi from his own beliefs, traditions, knowledge and experiences and is holding her captive within his own rules. In this segment is another gem of a song- Yeh rishta: Is gumsum jheel ke paani mein koi moti aakar girta hai, ek daayara banne lagta hai, aur badhke bhanwar ban jaata hai… In the tranquil lake of the mind, a priceless pearl of a thought drops, it creates a ripple that grows into a whirlpool that drowns you in its depths… incredibly beautiful! Meenaxi becomes increasingly impatient and tied down by the beliefs that Nawaab imposes upon her. She sits in Nawaab’s haveli reading Nawaab’s work while Nawaab sleeps. She is dejected by what she reads and leaves the haveli. She steps out into the world outside, the society, the people and the circumstances that were trying to define and limit her. The cyclist’s rhythm is a sequence that follows this feeling of helplessness and being trapped. Her movement and being is limited, and she is afraid and restricted. Nawaab watches as the helpless Meenaxi tries to break free from the wheels that go round and round in the same path, never allowing her the freedom and expression she so desperately desires. He sees her pain and anguish and in a moment Meenaxi sets fire to the society, the wheels and the story that have bound her and walks away leaving Nawaab with a realisation that a fresh attempt must be made.
Nawaab tries to separate Meenaxi with physical distance placing her in Prague. He tries to remove restrictions of family and tradition by making her an orphan in a far-away land. He manages to create some distance and decides to observe her. However, he is unable to give her wings to fly. He still defines her every move and thought. Meenaxi is dejected and offers to be a victim to this atrocity, but refuses to die. Her rebellion turns into deep depression and Nawaab starts to feel the weight of her anguish weighing him down. Back at the haveli, there is a chilling scene, when Nawaab cuts himself while shaving and starts to bleed. Meenaxi now seems unaffected by Nawaab’s pain- she is nonchalant as she states: Oh! Yeh khoon!Yeh… yeh aapki kahaani mein to nahin dikhta”. There is an indication of a shift of power. Nawaab who was formerly so assured about his authority over his own story, begins to feel intimidated by Meenaxi and senses her power over himself and his work. He takes Meenaxi with him and places her in different situations, different cities and gives her a different look and background, while trying to avoid giving her what she truly desires restrained with his own fears and limitations.
Noor-un-Allah
Nawaab is working feverishly on his story slowing losing control, while Meenaxi is constantly becoming more powerful. He is fighting a losing battle with the Meenaxi that he created. She can no longer be satiated with mere words of assurance or be swayed by his taunts. She is relentless and shows no pity ( a sharp contrast to the first interaction between her and Nawaab when she sheds tears at the slightest provocation).
It is clear now that Meenaxi can exist freely only when Nawaab ceases to exist- he must free her of himself. As long as he writes her story she will be bound by him- she will be subject to all that he knows and is accustomed to, she will have to follow his sense of right and wrong. Thus if she must live and experience herself independently, Nawaab must die. In a final moment of liberation, Nawaab dies so that Meenaxi can live on- she snatches the pen from his hands and begins to write her own story. This scene is symbolic of the fact that creativity is limited by a person’s beliefs, nature, experiences and character. And if one has to go beyond that limiting factor, the work of art must be allowed to live independently and must be freed from all such bounds- it is a process in which the creator only becomes a medium and nothing more. He is a spectator, and part of the audience, just as anyone else. Such creativity where one must disassociate creation from the creator naturally does not come from the creator, for the creator has ceased to exist. It is then a higher power that takes over, making the work divine. It is this divine creation that is Meenaxi- she is, like all other creation of God, pure, unrestrained, complete in itself, self-evolving and infinitely beautiful- Noor-un-Allah!
MF Hussain- the creator
The movie is a true work of art in every way- a brilliant thought- executed with amazing beauty and subtlety that is the mark of true abstract art, with amazing colours and cinematography, artistic and moving dialogues, unmatched lyrics, spectacular music, amazing background score, and a spectacular final product- Meenaxi. Tabu is stunning in every sense of the word. The movie is the greatest I have ever seen in my life- philosophical, visually stunning, esthetically pleasing, graceful, serene and divine. That this movie is made by an artist of the stature of MF Hussain comes as no surprise. I am blown-away by the depth in his thoughts and the beauty of his execution. Perhaps the movie has been made in the same manner as the process defined in the movie- for the result seems to come from a higher power and is a triumph of creativity and art.
Tags: AR Rahman, meenaxi, MF Hussain, Raghuvir Yadav, Rahat Indori, Tabu
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
hey wow… where did you get to see the movie? As far as my knowledge goes, this movie was banned… and I could never lay my hand on any DVD… havent this movie but for sure your review makes me want to see this movie even more now… BEAUTIFUL POST AGAIN… for all we know Hussein Saab might ve been real happy to read this… he’s be happy to know that he ’s still got his followers
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I saw this movie in a theatre in Bangalore when I was in India. Since then I have seen it many many times on DVD. It is absolutely brilliant- you can find it on google videos- but the print isn’t that good, so it’ll take away from the experience- but still if you absolutely cannot find a good print, I’d suggest that you watch it there… Yes it’s a depressing trend how he and others have been persecuted for frivolous reasons- but I definitely admire and revere his creative talent- be it film-making, shayari or painting… I would be honoured if he ever read my post
Thanks for your comment
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About the movie being banned- There was strong opposition from the islamic front regarding the depiction of Tabu in the song Noor-un-Allah. They were of the opinion that the phrase refers to God and interpreted it as MF Hussain dedicating it to the beauty of a woman
. When they demanded that the song be withdrawn from the movie, MF Hussain responded by withdrawing the movie altogether- kudos to him for taking that stand- I thought that was completely in line with the movie and the point it made.
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and sadly for the viewers it had to become a huge miss…. weird why people keep bringing up non relevant issues and fail to look at something that at least looked beautiful… maybe if they had protested after seeing the song and feel that it in anyways causes any scratch to their sentiments (how much ever I dont agree to it, I’d still have to give in cause I am no judge to direct orders to what should right to ones sensibility) … unfortunately it looked like the ban happened cuz they couldn’t find any other issue..
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I’m jealous and ‘m actually trying reach all the film interested people I know to see if anybody was aware of the movie’s release… I was in B’lore as well, all I knew was the movie never saw a light of the day.. even DVDs were taken off everywhere that I had asked about it… but then I guess after 3-4 attempts I also took it into assumption that maybe the movie was never out like Paanch … this gives me another reason to check out if I can find this one… it was shining brilliance even with the trailers.. songs picture everything promised a mesmerizing watch…
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It is really sad that MFH had to move away from India at this stage of his life… agreed some people might have had sentimental issues, but yup what government would it be, which cannot take care of one the living legends who is pretty sure of having his name in the history books of future…
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I saw the movie on the first day of its release at the Innovative multiplex (unless I’m getting the name wrong). As far as I remember it was withdrawn after 3 days in the theatre. The DVD also has the making which I was really excited about until I discovered that it was Owais Hussain who was picked to talk about the movie. I would’ve preferred to hear MFH’s thoughts instead.
That is so true- when I go online and look up MFH, I find posts spewing hatred and full of profanity. It is a sad state that we’ve brought ourselves into. However, I was very happy to hear the ruling of the judges in the various cases that accused him of hurting religious and national sentiment. The cases were simply trashed and the judges came out in defense of MFH. Still, he’s gone from our country and it’s definitely our loss. I was afraid that the comments here would be in the same tone as everywhere else, but I was pleasantly surprised to read your comment. Good to know that there is still some sanity amongst us.
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Unfortunately, in any blog space on the net, the easiest reactions are seen only with profanities… the internet space, as much has given the opportunity to reach out the farthest, an alias ID a faceless identity and vigilant comments has been the side effects… somewhere in the web world everybody believes they are unquestionable… and the ‘creative outbursts’ for some reason has always been through abuses ( I believe creative Outburst, I believe would always going to start crude, violent and kinds, but does the nature have to so destructive is depressing…) and for some, these abuses are typed out only for the heck of it, to garner some attention and laugh about it… guess the spiderman idea of “power comes with responsibility” is not something everybody follows… whats more unfortunate is since people who do not subscribe to the stupid ideas never put up their points cause they do not pay too much attention to it, the situation starts looking as if EVERYBODY SUBSCRIBES TO THE ABUSING NOTIONS, if not everybody then a majority… sad…
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Deviated a little too much from you post, but looks like even Netflix doesn’t have a copy of Meenakshi… though we can “save” it.. I at least see some reasons that this movie might officially be available across in DVDs… (but then I think Kaminey’s print in netflix hints towards a not very credible source…
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You could try a local library… where do you live? I’m in Canada- and I’d have thought it can’t get any harder than in Canada to find really good hindi movies- most places cater exclusively to popular cinema
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living in Chicago, and honestly have never bothered to go to Indian movie shops… there are the $2 CDs available for only the new movies close to where I live and have been stocking up from there… now I guess I shall surely make my visit to the stores … yahaan anything Indian is actually available, apart from Wills and Gold Flakes
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Just remembered what you said on the last post- you were the first to post a comment this time around
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Hey!Jyoti nice post again.Meenaxi is certainly a unique movie.wont call it the greatest movie but yes a wonderful piece of art indeed.You are right about Innovative Multiplex if you are referring to the one in Marathalli- B’lore.
PS- I’ve seen the movie in theatre myself.Saw it @ New Empire – Kolkata.The movie did release in India but was removed from the theatres before it could complete a week’s run.In fact MF Hussain saab himself voluntarily pulled it off the theatres after all the commotion started.
I think DVD of the movie is available here in India.
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I have seen the DVD in video stores here and my local library has 3 copies. I guess we were lucky to have seen it in the theatre. I remember having shown up at the theatre with nothing particular in mind and we decided to see this movie- I’m glad for it, otherwise I might never have enjoyed the theatre experience that such movies richly deserve.
– I was in Bangalore for a short period and do not recall the names of places well- I think it was the 1st multiplex in Bangalore… Did it run for a longer period elsewhere?
Yes I’m referring to the one in Marathalli
A handful of people ruin it for everyone- so sad!
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@ Jyoti- yes we certainly should consider ourselves lucky for getting to watch it in a theatre.Even I went with a fairly open mind and hence managed to have a good time watching it.
and yes Innovative was the 1st multiplex to come up in B’lore.The movie never ran for a longer period anywhere.as I mentioned earlier the movie was voluntarily removed from theatres by MF Hussain saab as he was dejected by all the hue and cry being made.
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I am aware of the circumstances under which the movie was withdrawn as I had mentioned to PS- I remember the episode quite vividly… I was just wondering if perhaps international audiences got to see the movie for a longer period in theatres.
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What is this bit about ‘the greatest movie’? There is no such thing as the greatest movie. Meenaxi is an astounding work of artistic originality. And it is nowhere near as pretentious, strained and stiff as the old man’s earlier Gajagamini. It made the mainstream filmmakers jittery and hence they scoffed at MFH under the cover of anonymity. It is extremely well-written (except for the Check bit), brilliantly composed and choreographed and reasonably well-acted. Hats off to the old man!
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Sure there is- every year movies win awards for being “the best movie of the year”, miss universe is crowned “the most beautiful girl in the universe”, some days are the “happiest of one’s life” and this I say is the “greatest movie I’ve ever seen”… don’t see how you can tell me it’s not
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Dead looking Nawab opens the eyes.
Did you feel that somewhere MATOTC, tried to touch many subjects
- mortality of humanbeing before the unpredicatble functioning of the existence
- Limitations of human life before the vast existence
- Dreams, illusion etc.
Zindagi ek Khyal hai ya zindagi mein ek khayal ko talashna hai?
Did you get some meaning in a scene where first draft of novel catches fire and the paper in the Nawab’s hands shows “Meenaxi” typed in english while rest of the matter is in urdu (Nastaliq script). Why this difference is there?
I liked it. Tabu, Raghuvir Yadav were fantastic. Attractive imagery. cinematography was very good but it was not evenly good through out the film. Perhaps because too much experimentation was followed. At many places camera movements looked so obvious that they reduced the impact of the scenes. and the shots where Tabu and Kunal Kapur were shown moving (not shown but one can clearly feel they are standing on a moving trolley) seemed amateurish to some extent.
I guess KK’s dialogues were dubbed by somebodyelse and there was a kind of mismatch in the dialogue delivery and his expressions. Tabu did not look comfortable reacting to his actions or sayings.
Music was good.
Concept of showing the characters of Novel was very good.
Later I saw Will Ferrell starrer Stranger Than Fiction and liked it also.
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I see this movie as abstract and thus completely open to individual interpretation. While yours seems more strongly based on logic, I was more excited by the philosophy. To me the movie is a sort of creative extension of the philosophy of Bhagwat Gita. The Bhagwat Gita asks the doer to disassociate oneself from one’s karma and dedicate all actions to God, recognizing oneself as the medium through which the forces of nature will execute their will. That means that one must be able to free oneself of the implications and fruit of all actions to make it perfect, uninhibited and pure- this is the only way to make actions divine and to achieve a greater height of creativity. Though this does suggest in a manner that the human involvement is minimal, it is not exactly correct as I see it. The human is part of this essential process of evolution and in the larger scheme of things- the theory only draws attention to the fact that human being is not the sole force responsible for all eventualities and is one of the forces that factor into the working of the universe.
The movie zig-zags between reality and symbolism. The moment in which Nawaab is seemingly dead is a symbolic moment that indicates the “death” of the author- he is now a medium and his creation exists independent of him. The movie then moves back into reality where Nawaab is very much alive and has just penned down the story of Meenaxi and has made her character complete.
I do not think that there is any illusion. The image of Meenaxi that Nawaab sees is not an illusion, but an inspiration. Various situations, surroundings and feelings, etc suddenly inspire us, and at his sister’s mehendi, Nawaab is suddenly struck with such an inspiration. Throughout the movie, his interaction with the “real” Meenaxi are his musings- his mental interactions with his character, and his journey of understanding her.
Kya zindagi ek Khayal hai, ya ek khayal ki talaash? Is life a thought or the quest for a thought. Life is definitely a quest. For once a thought has been found, a new quest must begin, or life must cease to exist, for life is not merely existing, it is a process of discovery.
I have discussed my interpretation of the scene where the script catches fire in the post. As to why the title is in English, I haven’t read any more deeply into it that the obvious need- most of us can read English. Nawaab however is an urdu author. The title is in English for the benefit of the audience (if you see this differently, please let me know).
The portions with Tabu and Kunal are part of the story and thus exaggerated in many ways. I think it is to dramatize as one would with any kind of story-telling- there is a sharp contrast between these sequences, those with Nawaab and Meenaxi and the real ones with Nawaab and his family (except in the end when Nagma and his aunt come to the haveli and find Nawaab dead- this sequence belongs to the same category as Nawaab and Meenaxi’s interactions and is symbolic like those).
Kunal seemed confused in his role. It gave the appearance that he did not understand the movie or his own character. Tabu was exceptional and Raghuvir did justice to the role, although he seemed a little unconvincing as an author (personal opinion), but left no gaps in his performance.
I liked stranger than fiction as well. I do not see a direct comparison between the two movies beyond the story-character-author and reality-fiction parallels. But I enjoyed that movie as well. I thought it was interesting and funny- and the end was quite well done also- you realize that the story loses flavor with the humane ending, and wonder for the first time that if characters were in fact real, would you still treat them as you would when they are fictional- interesting.
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havent seen the movie but within a context of name being in English and the script being in Urdu just gives me one feeling of interpretation (maybe it ll change once ve seen the movie, but for all you know this is how it was conceptualised before the movie was made) …. Urdu is supposed to be a very beautiful language, its considered to be serene, noble and warming and soothing at the same time…. the very words like ‘z’ in ar’z’ and “gh” in ghazal, are meant to be words with limited stress with is soothening to hear… to understand Urdu one needs to have a way of looking at beauty… you need to know or develop that inclination to understand that beauty, and for one who knows it, the beauty flows out in words….
English on the other hand is the universal language (At least with the targetted audience) … anybody can read it, understand it, and keep moving on, never a need to dwell or interpret, not the pinching amusement that it can give out… so the way I see it is, the Name is in English … ‘Meenakshi’.. anybody can read the name, anybody can know the woman, everybody can recognise her, identify her, but it was with the writer and the ones who could read, who can realise the beauty, feel the freshness, see how the lanuguage is simple yet amusing and tantilating thoughts, the words are simple yet soothing…. so my immediate thought only to know about the name and the book content was this inclination … of how we can read write comprehend and identify a lot of things, but for understanding and feeling the real zest of it, the book is written in the dreamer’s language….
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Marvellous Interpretation, especially when it comes from someone who hasn’t seen the movie.Fabulous Stuff. Keep it up PS.
Jyoti you are definitely the most thought provoking, poetic and intelligent writer I have read in a long long time. You are the best.
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Hey thanks AP, glad that you liked it…
Guess the benefit was that I havent seen the movie… at times when things are not visually fed to you, the imagination takes over… maybe if just these 2 instances were given to anybody, who hasnt seen the movie might have thought on the same lines…
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…..and now you decided to show that not only are you a person of high intellect, but also very modest
. Way to Go PS. I guess Intellect and modesty go hand in hand, oris it not so? What does the Geeta have to say about that Jyoti, PS?
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Bhagwat Gita prescribes complete disassociation of oneself with one’s actions and performing acts only for the sake of the act in complete purity and with devotion, so then there is no ownership associated with one’s act and thus no question of pride- so yes modesty comes with purity of action- the highest form of karma
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abe yaar ajitesh … its seriously not like that..
thanks hai ji for the good words again.. humbled…. lekin seriously, maybe if I had seen the movie and the scene then might have paid more attention to the chaos that might have been going on with the fire that has been mentioned…. more or less like I read Harry Potter and had so many of my thoughts flying everywhere, none of which was captured in the movie.. maybe they intended to but visually it never jumped across…. but then again … thats for the good words 
.. abhi uske laayak nahi hoon … maybe the good words should indeed go to the one who saw the movie and this polarity in the scene intriguied his/her view….
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Thanks… that’s very flattering indeed… would be great to hear your thoughts on the movie as well
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Wow- Loved this interpretation… very beautiful indeed… I have a feeling you’ll love this movie… make it a point to watch it… that’s the beauty of this movie. I still watch it and find that I am always struck by something new each time… Thanks for your thoughts- it was lovely.
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thank you maam…
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The music of this movie goes on to show how AR Rahman is completely a director’s musician.
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The movie cran for quitea whilec in Bnagalore maybe a week or two before being withdrawn. I saw it in the theater ( Rex, perhaps) and what a wonderful experince it was! So much more realised product compared to Gajagaamini. Yes, one has to see it in an open mind..like his much reviled installation Whitesuperabundant or Shwetambari. I had the good fortune to catch it at Jehmangir Art Gallery. The ritics simply didn’t get it! They just jumped at it , without giving it evena chance. Indian critics are a little stck up that way. Cant’t appreciate anything pathbreakimg. I remember rajeev Masand giving one star to No Smoking and two stars to Dev D!!
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Wow! It must’ve been quite an experience! I most certainly envy you- Please let me know more about Shwetambari and your experience in relation to that.
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I am genuinely EXTREMELY interested to know about shwetambari… please let me know about your experience… There is very little information about it online- all I have been able to learn is the painting of the 6 godesses that was overpainted with white on the final day. I would appreciate any information that you could share- anything at all- I look forward to hearing from you in this regard… thanks
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I thought that the music and background score were both extremely good and captured the essence of the movie with perfection.
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I saw it on the day of its release in Hyderabad and came out with a beautiful feeling that very very few films give. Others in the list Persona by Bergman and Double Life of Veronique by Kieslowski.
Keep writing!
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@lightonsun: agree with you. it’s exactly how i felt when i stepped out of the theatre.
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Really an interesting post!
Have seen this movie and must say it’s one of the best audio visual treat in Hindi Cinema. Every frame from Santosh Sivan is a piece of art. Even not to forget the best ever music Rahman. His music in this film is class apart!
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actually, i found it surprising,that so many people had seen this movie, many of them in theatre itself.
I found the movie to boring, the only thing i enjoyed was Music by A.R.Rahman.
Even if MFH would not have pulled out, it was already out of it was from theatre due to record breaking poor collections.
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Unfortunately, not only did you not understand the movie, but did not understand the review as well. To each is own I guess.
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Probably true as well… there quite a lot of classics that I could never sit through… later was told that I didnt know how to appriciate them… tried again to appriciate them… nahi hua yaar… and then I made my own mental notes ki I gotto select what is a classic for me… and maybe one day I will like the recognised classics as well… I somehow was not able to sit through Shawshank Redemption …. dint hate it dint love it, just could not get through.. same with eyes wide shut… maybe if I see em today I can…
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Completely agree with you, even there are classics which I find it very ordinary. I feel there is no need to take such things seriously, as I find ‘Forrest Gump’ as ordinary film for which my friends really made fun of me! They even tagged me that I do not have the sensibilities of appreciating a good cinema. To this I reacted back to my friend to explain any one scene in detail which has touched his soul and which prompted him to say this one is a classic film. To this he thought, thought and thought …. The thing is, if a film is termed as a classic then anyone who didn’t liked the film genuinely will succumb to the intellect ego as to how he/she didn’t liked the movie, so a pretention is used in the saying ,Oh WOW it as a classic film!
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the are movies which are termed as classic, because there is a vast audience which found them to be classics… the groups possibly formed similar to the ‘cult’ movie gangs… and the sales of the movie shows results, for a very example of Shawshank Redemption again, the movie was supposed to be a flop while on theatres, what made it into a phenomena was the DVD sales… and maybe the movie never had a very touching part for a lot of the audience but the way it was made, was so totally different from what they had been seeing … and it started getting considered a classic… amongst viewers who got touched, and for viewers who were glued and amazed the way the movie moves… personally neither of them happened to me… but then again if everybody had to have the same choice all movies could ve either been a super A class hit or all of em would be a downright flop … my one opinion doesnt hold them back against the liking of so many others… and for all I know in a given mood or situation, you may end up liking forest gump and I may end up liking Shawshank Redemption … but yeah I guess more importantly cannot mootly dismiss any work as non classic or a blindly accept them as classics… as captain planet would say .. the choice is yours
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Yes, Shwtambari. Though I live in Bangalore, I just happened to be in Mumbai that time, holidayinmg with my family. Walked into the gallery and was stunned. The entire bigger hall of the gallery was draped in white. But it was not just plain draping.It was canopies of various sizes at various levels. And on the ground, there were scraps of torn newspapers strwewn all over the floor and they rustled gently as you walked over them. A very ethereal experience, suberging you in WHITE completely. Even the next hall, the smaller one, had another execution of the same theme, can’t remember the format exactly. Hussain himself was there, and I have a photograph of him with my two small kids against the installation. Needless to add, the photograoh taken wioth an ordinary camera can’t capture the spirit at al, but a precious memento no doubt.
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Absolutely! Was he painting? Did he speak to the onlookers? I read that he painted 6 godesses, and on the final day painted over them in white- do you know why- did he either say anything about it or did you read/hear anything about why he did that? Must have been a memorable moment to experience it first-hand… wish he would do something like that again and I could get the opportunity to see him with his work- thanks for responding
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Thanks for responding- it must have been an amazing experience to watch Hussain with his exhibit! I wish I could see his expression- did he look happy with his work, or was he interested to know people’s responses… was he painting or was he explaining the exhibit to the onlookers… was he addressing the crowd or let them experience it for themselves… I also wanted to know about the 6 godesses and why he painted over it- do you know about that? There is no information available about this online… it is definitely an opprtunity of a lifetime to watch this great and multi-talented artist… you are indeed very fortunate to have had the opportunity… it would be great if you could do a post about this experience and perhaps include that picture… thank you so much for responding- you made my day!
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hey guys! my first encounter with this kind of platform, i have heard about the movie but no luck yet!, however, simple or complicated the meenaxi speeks through jyoti…. wonder…
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another great article. I am truly fascinated with your deep understanding, or may be its the bias towards this great film. you truly discussed each and every thread and gave the film its due. waah!
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Thanks- it’s great to hear that you liked the article. You are right in saying that I do have a strong emotion attached to this movie- I absolutely love it (after having watched it so many times). It gives me food for thought every time, and the depth and beauty of expression never cease to amaze me, and I am moved to tears every time.
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