Moments that I cant forget
iView Author:Rusted Rick
(Kolkata, India)
EMAIL: ritchick.mozumdar [at] gmail [dot] com
Title: Moments that I cant forget
There are moments. Moments that stayed with me don’t know why. Scene’s I can’t forget, get out of my head. They almost haunt me. making my mind claustrophobic. I remember scenes from films which I never forget, maybe with time the films stop mattering to me, but certain moments/ scenes live on. I have never tried to analyze them, before you ask let me say I have no idea why, maybe I simply never felt like doing so.. Anyways here are few of those scenes.
1) In “Raging Bull” Robert De Niro punching the walls of his cell. There is something about the whole atmosphere and the look on de niro’s face. I can see the frustration, hatred and disappointment with life, etched in every fold of his face.
2) In “Taxi Driver” when Iris (Jodie foster) climbs into Travis Bickle’s cab and asks him to drive. Travis (Robert De Niro) had one hand on the steering when a man comes in and pulls Iris out. We see
Travis’s eyes in the mirror. Gosh I can never forget those eyes. I don’t think there has ever been a day when I didn’t think ok those, its almost like they might pierce you if you stare too hard. .
3) The last scene in “The Seventh Seal”, as death dances away with the people on the distant horizon. This many would claim (and I’ll agree with them) is probably one of the greatest scene in movie history.I’ll never forget that haunting music, slowly death disappears with his men.
4) Well one of my favorite scene in a Bollywood film is one from “Lagaan”. As Bhuvan (Aamir khan) hits the last ball high in the air, we see Captain Andrew Russel (Paul Blackthorne) running after it, we
watch with bated breath as the ball lands on his hands. Then the camera slowly moves down, we discover his feet outside the rope. This particular scene is unforgettable to me. I can still hear the crowd roaring in the theatre as soon as they find his feet outside the rope. I was 9 years old then and after countless viewings I still feel the same joy when I look at that scene as I did back then.
5) The very last scene of no country for old men. The shot of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell’s (Tommy Lee Jones) face. If someone would just pause it and look at that face for hours they can almost portray his character from that look. It said it all, his failure, his disappointment, his fear.
6) One of my favorite film is “CRIES AND WHISPERS”. There is a scene where Agnes (Harriet Andersson) dead is with Maria (Liv Ullmann) on her bed, then she kisses her and Maria in the most cruel way reacts with absolute horror. Unforgettable!!
7) In the film “Mama Roma” there is a scene towards the end where momma roma’s son Ettore is tied to a bed inside a cell. His hands and feet tied and stretched out like Christ during the Crucifixion.
8) When I am talking of memorable scenes how can I leave out a Godard film, I don’t know if many would remember this but there is a scene in “Pierrot Le Fou where Marianne (Anna Karina) slowly snips the scissors in front of the camera with the two Picasso’s hanging in the background.
Well there you have it, some of my favorite moments/ scenes from cinema. It was written not in any particular order and there are several scenes outside this list which fascinates me, I’ll write about those when I remember them.Meanwhile tell me which are the scenes/moments YOU keep going back to.
P.s- am not some film analyst and I don’t study films. Am just a school student, who likes watching films. I have never really written anything before, so pardon me if this turned out to be rather boring.
Suggestions to improve the writing are always welcome.
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
rick…good post…
spme of my fav scenes….
Maqbool: in the end when irfan goes to the hospital and watches his baby in the hands of masumeh and ajay gehi..through the glass door….irfan’s face conveys everything..his betrayal..his remorse…his guilt…and a haunting background score lifts the scene more up…
Nishabd: this too comes in the end..when amitabh decides against committing suicide wanting to live one more hour one more day in remembrance of his beloved.
sarkar: the rashid killing sequence…the look in zakir hussain’s eyes when abhishek says ..”tumhe maarne ke liye mera yahan hona zaroori nahi magar tumhe marte hue dekhne ka mazaa mein khona nahi chahta”
all scenes of sholay….
A scene from Angoor..Sanjeev Kumar opens the door of his bedroom and Deepti Naval is at the door and Sanjeev Kumar is relieved, irritated, angry, happy, indifferent, impulsive, impatient but quiet…all through a series of totally awesome expressions..AWESOME!
Pankaj Kapoor in Sehar..last scene after Arshad Warsi dies..most poignant, sad, afraid yet dignified silence..TERRIFIC!!!
Sharman Joshi in Life in a Metro…very underrated scene..he gets a promotion and Kangana hands him his cabin keys..he is awesome here..expressions keep flitting across bringing in the climax next scene to his story. BRILLIANT!
Pyar Jhukta Nahin..Mithunda..has anybody seen this movie??..Mithunda as a lovelorn guy confronts Danny, Padmini’s dad..just watch Mithunda when Danny is giving it to him. JUST GREAT!
among the movies from outside india….
pulp fiction: vincent vega and mia wallace’s conversation in the hotel..
scarface: tony montana’s interrogation in the beginning
goodfellas: joe pesci’s n Ray liotta’s funny sequence
AB’s expressions when Tannuja Slaps him in Khakee.
@Comment above- (My bad. Comment on wrong post.)
Every scene in Pulp Fiction. (almost)
The last scene in Party.
Naseeruddin Shah gagging, his tongue having been cut off.
There are many many scenes that are etched in my head..But right now I can only think of the last scene from a Tamil movie ‘Mann Vasanai’ starring Revathy. It’s like: She;s come back to her lover leaving her husband only to find him getting married to her friend. That scene when shes jut standing alone with the suitcase – her husband walking away to her right and her lover with his new bride at her left. Her expression at this moment..realizing that she’s lost everything she had forever…haunting scene…Amazing Revathy…
Practically all the scenes from The Blair Witch Project. Nenver never have I been so terrified.
So many scenes from ‘No Country for Old Men’. Infact the whole cat and mouse chase right till the end..stamped in my head…
The scene from Golmaal – Utpal Dutt on why a man should have a moustache…Damn…how can one think of this…amazing stuff…
The scene in Khamosh when Sanjeev Kumar’s and Jaya’s baby just crawls out into the rain….Damn..so painful..
The scene from Masoom when Juggal Hansraj tells Shabana that he knows Naseer is his father….absolutely heart-breaking…
And many many many more…..
@ashwin
yes man that was an amazing sequence, also the closeup of irrfan’s face at the beginning and end of maqbool.
@indraneel
glad to see that someone still remembered the film seher, i dont know if it was critically acclaimed when it was released but am sure it was a box office flop. amazing film, gripped me till the end.
@arthi v
thanks for reminding me of that scene from golmaal, that has got to be one of the best comedies ever made in india.
unfortunately sehar didnt get much critical acclaim either at the time of its release…..
its not only engrossing it has tremendous repeat value since it is full of amazing performances and brilliant dialogues.
it reflected the up mafia milieu very aptly…
the director kabeer kaushik has not made a film since then..latest i heard he is making a film under arshad warsi’s production banner. lets hope he fets to make more movies.
Scenes nd scenes nd scenes hitting my head throughout!!!wondering which one to select. However its always 3 bharat award holder mammootty movie valsalyam which comes first.
Shawshank Redemption: The scene where Andy explains to Red over the dinner table “Hope is a Wonderful thing”
Cast Away: Tom Hanks comming back from the island, looks at a table laden with rich food, picks up one, but is unable to eat it, remembering his starvation days in the island. No dialog but so effective.
Swatimutyam: Kamal Hassan is beaten up by his uncle, when he asks for a share in the property. His wife Radhika, hands him over the stick, no dialog here, she just glances with rage, and gives a nod of her head. Kamal goes and beats the crap out of his uncle.
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: The entire treasure hunt in the graveyard, with Ennio Morricone’s pulsating music. And of course the Mexican shootout.
Letters from Iwo Jima: The scene where the Japanese unit commit suicide one by one, knowing very well that they have lost. Also the climax scene, where the voices of the soldiers come out from the letters.
Where Eagles Dare: Yeah this was a total masala movie, but still the scene where Richard Burton plays a double game with the Nazi officers in the castle and tricks them, was top class.
Anand: The climax scene , simply unforgettable.
Nayakan: The scene where Kamal breaks down over the charred dead body of his son.
Mirch Masala: The climax scene, where the women folk come out and throw the chilli powder in Naseer’s eyes. One of the best climax again.
Mahanadi: Kamal’s daughter has been rescued from the brothel house. And in her sleep she keeps telling the customers to leave her alone, and his expression of shock and disgust, pain and shame, just hits you square in the face.
The Painted Veil: Superb climax here again. Naomi Watts meets the guy with whom she had a brief affair when in China, and who later ditched her. He asks her if they could meet again, she brushes aside his request.Her son asks her who he is. And she replies “Not such an important person”.
Masoom: Jugal Hansraj cuts his finger, and runs into the kitchen shouting Maa. Shabana looks at him with anger and says “Khabardaar tu mujhe maa kaha”. He walks away with a downcast expression. Really moved me to tears when i saw it the first time.
Don’t know how many here are aware of telugu movies. There is one scene in the movie Rudraveena, a K.Balachander classic.
Chiranjeevi, s/o a gr8 singer/musician and a musician himself is a social reformer of sorts. Once he happens to sit with wood cutters in a forest. As they know he is a big singer, they ask him to sing a song for them. Chiranjeevi breaks into a raagaalapana. People around him just scratch their heads and suddenly ask him if he could sing some other good song for them. The expressions on chiru’s face when he says with questions in his eyes..Hmm..Manchi paata? (Good song??)..It is one of the scenes that stayed with me since I watched it for the first time.
Then there is this scene in Shiva by RGV.
The van in which Shiva’s friends are going to attend a friends marraige is attacked. One of the friends is rounded off. Suddenly the BGM score is dead. It is only the sound of the guy taking a deep breath and the camera focusses on the friends face. A goon just lifts his axe and the sound of it landing on is played. The whole scene leaves a mark on the viewer.
One more from the film Gaayam.. RGV with the megaphone and Mani ratnam at the writing table with the screenplay. It is loosely based on Godfather(Don’t ask me which RGV film isn’t :-))
A scene after the protaganist’s brother is killed. Everyone in his brother’s gang are talking about taking a revenge. Protaganist says this is not the right time. Every one gives his a look as if he is a novice and he needs to keep silent.
The protaganist coldly replies..Chacchipoyindi maa annayya(It is my brother who is dead..) This according to me is best on screen interpretation of the godfather scene between mike and sonny
@Mindtentative
I am a Telugu too, have given some Telugu movie scenes as example. But i particularly love the scenes in movies directed by K.Viswanath and Vamsy.
Viswanath especially is a master in conveying a lot with minimal dialog. The climax scene in Sagarasangamam is a classic 4 ever. Kamal totally in his last stages, gives a speech in quivering voice, and then thanks Jayaprada. When he refers to her as a mother, it induces a guilt conscience in Shailaja, Jayaprada’s daughter, who till then suspects that her mother is having an affair with Kamal.
Also the initial scene of Sagarasangamam, where Kamal shows to Sailaja the different dance forms for the song Om Namah Sivaya.
@Mindtentative
Gaayam to date remains one of RGV’s more underrated work for me. It has a large Godfather influence.
Many scenes in Vamsi’s movie Anveshana, i had seen it as a teen, and it really scared the hell out of me.
Also for me in Shiva, the best scene is when Nag beats up Raghuvaran’s goons, and brings him to his adda. Not much dialog here, but i remember the moment when Tanikella Bharani, playing Nanaji, whispers into Raghuvaran’s ears “Siva” and he looks up with a mixture of fear and disgust.
Almost every scene in The Insider, but my favorite wud be this.
Russel Crowe, sitting all alone in a hotel room. He finds that he has lost everything his career, his family, his reputation. He has been ditched by CBS, which bowing to pressures does not telecast his interview. He is sitting, thinking of the better days he had. And we have a wonderful dream sequence, where he looks at his home, his 2 daughters. At the same time Pacino is desperately trying to get him on phone. However Crowe is just not responding, inspite of the best efforts of the hotel staff. And thats when Pacino says “Ask him to get on the f**king phone”. The hotel manager says so, and Crowe is jerked out of his dream, comes furiously slams the door, and then in a voice quivering with rage he says “You manipulated me into this”.
I am a hard core Al Pacino fan, but in the Insider, it is Russel Crowe, who really walks away with the acting honors.
My favourites are
-the enlightening exchanges between Kamal hassan and Madhavan in Anbe Sivam (especially the scene after the injured kid dies)Anbe Sivam is the most underrated movie in tamil cinema.But now there is a cult following for this movie and hope one day it will get a world wide audience like how PYAASA and Guru dutt has got in europe
-DEAD POETS SOCIETY When robin williams is about to leave the school and his students one after another stands over the desk in the classroom and say “Oye captain” giving him a farewell. wow what a scene
-HEY RAM the scene in the end between gandhi(naseer) and Saket ram (kamal hassan)
-PYAASA During the memorial celebration for the poet vijay(guru dutt) when he stands on the entrance with his outstretched arms like christ and the haunting song
Scent of a woman…the dance scene..with the camera completely on Al Pacino’s face and him with his expressions of joy, thrill, ego!!UFF!
Albert Pinto ko Gussa kyon aata hai…Naseer in a party scene in a friend’s home..tests a “unbreakable jar” by throwing it to the floor..after that the jar breaks..there is silence and the expressions by Naseer are to die for!!!!
Dacait…Paresh Rawal comes out of the Police station in the morning after raping a complainant and resumes normal life..(mind you, this was his first movie or second..I don’t remember)..the dialogue delivery and the expressions are vividly clear and I actually keep seeing the movie for this scene! WAAH!!
Sparsh..Naseer..every scene..probably his best!!
Ijaazat..Last scene..Shashi Kapoor enters as Naseer has explained about his heart attack..the whole climax upto where Rekha looks back at a still Naseer..all three actors are study worthy here!! SALAAM!!
-Final ramayan scenes in JAANE BHI DO YAARON what a laughing riot
-a lot of scenes in FORREST GUMP
-MOTOR CYCLE DIARIES when che guevera on his birthday gets into the ice cold river and swims across to the leper colony
@ prasanna
I think u mean the Mahabharat scenes in JBDY.
Glory- The scene where Denzel Washington is whipped for insubordination. Watch the expressions on DW’s face, as he stares at Matthew Broderick, mixture of anger and frustration.
Das Boot- Almost every scene in one of the finest WW2 movies i have ever seen.
Ronin- The car chase scenes are outstanding. One of the best car chases i have seen in a movie.
North by North West- The crop duster plane attacking Cary Grant, and the final chase at Mt.Rushmore.
Il Postino- The climax scene, when the poet Pablo Neruda, comes to know about the postman’s death. Classic ending to a classic movie.
L.A.Confidential- Almost every scene in this noir classic, but my favorites wud be the ones between Russel Crowe and Guy Pearce.
Usual Suspects- The final climax, just unforgettable.
Pulp Fiction- Many great scenes, but nothing to beat Hamburgers and the restaurant scene.
3 Deewarein- The scene where Juhi Chawla, interviews the 3 prisoners, brilliantly shot by Nagesh Kukunoor, with shifting camera angles.
Satya- The cop interrogating the suspect, asking him who gave the supari. The suspect refusing to answer. The cop slowly keeps swinging the lathi, and brings it down on the suspect’s raw wound. Nothing is shown, but the way the guy screams “Bhiku Mhatre”, is just spine chilling.
Promos of this new movie have started cmg on tv – Ugli aur Pagli starring Mallika Sherawat and Ranvir Sheroy. Seems like a scene to scene rip-off from the original Korean film ‘Yeopgijeogin geunyeo’ or My Sassy Girl. This was really funny in many parts.Not that any scene stands out but just felt like putting it down here.