logo

Friday, 4 January 2008

Phuleeze do not get befuddled by the SSS in the title and assume this to be a write-up on a “Nagin” film but this is more a self-obsessed write-up on 3 of my really favorite films and all three being with “S”. Like the white supremacists having their KKK, I have my SSS & hope more will join. Well if you readers who visit PFC want to know what these “S” are, they are Frank Darabont’s Shawshank Redemption (Yes, there’s a THE but we all know it as Shawshank), John Mathew Mathan’s Sarfarosh & Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades. These are 3 movies that I must have seen at least a zillion times and I still tend to see them whenever have run out of movies to see and these are the only movies that I have in almost all possible viewing formats (DVD, Divx, Ipod & Iphone et al). I am still not sure why I like them but they seem to give me a wonderful surge of adrenalin and also make me hopeful, more passionate towards movies and the 3 or 3+ hours to see these movies just fly away when I start to see this. Nowadays of course, I only see them in bits and pieces since there has been an interjection at home & have been threatened by bodily harm If I do dare to pop any of these DVD’s into my player

For that .001% of the statistic who frequent PFC & have still not seen these movies, I will provide a brief about the 3 movies and why I like them

Shawshank Redemption

Frank Darabont must have been drinking some really amazing stuff to have made this movie from a small write-up of Stephen King’s. Yes Bad boy & Horror’s Child Stephen King wrote the initial idea for this hopeful movie and this for me as a writer is awe-inspiring. I remember reading a long time back in “Guardian” that Shawshank as a movie failed in theaters but succeeded in DVD & Video sales. The psychologist who had written this article ascribed this to be a reason that we all as viewers also feel we are in some prison or the other of work, family, life and hence really sympathize with Andy’s character. I for one believe in this and think that the whole aspect of jail and the final climax adds credence to this article. To now dwell on those characters of Shawshank, I love Andy Dufrane, Red (Morgan Freeman was superb as Red), Brooks, The bloody Warden, the new kid on the block, all of them. I loved the quotable quotes and have more than enough T-shirts with these quotes on. I love Morgan explaining to Andy that his name is RED because of the fact that he is Irish and the casual banter they have. This makes you forget that they are inmates and looks more like a garden party. I love the fact of “Raison D’etre” (Reason to Exist) that’s so well etched into the narrative of Andy. He wants to do something and keep himself busy and we see that in each and every aspect of his life in Shawshank. I do love the Warden & his Junior. The Warden’s quote as Andy enters the prison establishes what awaits Andy – “Your soul belongs to Jesus & your Arse belongs to me”. The other good thing about this movie is the wonderful way the narrative flows across a long span of 2 decades and the character introduction. Remember that this movie had no heroine or any amorous scenes except for the one in Andy’s hearing and yet this movie works at so many different levels. It’s a movie that once seen, you want to go to the rooftops and keep shouting about how wonderful it is. See it for its story, relationships, friendship, location and like Pandora’s box, see it for HOPE.

Sarfarosh

I love Aamir Khan (even after films like Raja Hindustani, Mann, Mela) since he is one of the best actors of his time and also a Star who has given breaks to directors who have grappled to give hits after their movie with Aamir. This movie is a wonderful synergy of a Great Script, wonderful cast and a really quiet (He does not come on any and every channel or blog & rant about how great he is) but really great director. The movie has such a tremendous pace, that you do not realize when it ends. The travel, the actual story all leave you spellbound. Again a great hopeful movie like Shawshank and works very well for me. As Indians, we tend to put all our cops in one big basket of corruption and tend to see them with a very negative eye. Classic example: RGV films where the Gangster seem to have more bonhomie and friendship and the Cops seem very one dimensional. This whole movie is about the journey of a group of police officers from the Crime Branch and their ultimate fight against the gang that is wrecking havoc within India. This was most probably the first movie that had the Balls to show our friendly neighbor as a war mongering state more interested in havoc than nation building. The characters in this movie are so bloody well etched; they only remind me of another movie “Black Friday” (Please do not make derogatory remarks about my post because I used the word Black Friday or also do not make this an Anurag praise/bash post). The other thing about Sarfarosh is each person in the frame is accountable and needs to be there. Like Phatka, as a character, you warm up to him and the concept of a Khabri-Cop relationship was bought into focus. Salim (What acting by Mukesh Rishi) as a smart but mid rung cop is somebody you understand & feel for his being a Muslim cop who tends to get maligned due to belonging to a minority community. The dialogue between Aamir (as Ajay Singh Rathod) & Mukesh (as Salim) in front of Rajri (Aamir’s Home) when Salim no longer wants to be on the case still gives me goose bumps and I tend to rattle off this scene whenever I am alone walking and people think am loony. This scene also brings into focus the amazing amount of secularism in the film Industry and guys on the fringes like me feel happy that all is well & fine. The other aspect of this movie was that it was commercial in all aspects and had no pretensions to call itself “Film Noir/Offbeat/Whatever”. It had all the masala of songs, item songs what not but at the heart of it all was a simple story with an amazing pace and a underlying message of hope. I loved it for its actors, its story, narrative style, songs (Jagjit Singh Hosh Waalon…oh amazing) and the humor and human interactions. See it for all its worth, if you have still not seen it

Swades

What do you tell about a movie that has its hero’s name as “Mohan Barghav”. A Gandhite like me who tries to see hidden codes in all tends to see Mohan in this also. The movie is a tale of coming back, growing up, seeing the light, god it’s about a lot of things and I simply loved the movie. In this “S” of the trilogy, the actress Kishori Ballal, who essayed the role of Kaveriamma with aplomb is an actress from Kannada films and had done some of the worst roles she could possibly do. This movie finally highlights her capabilities as an actress & has her in the role of Yashoda. Shah Rukh is in this mystical role of Krishna in of course contemporary times. I have always maintained that Shah Rukh is a very good actor but does not experiment and I loved every frame where shah Rukh was in this movie because he was not Raj or Rahul or Om in this movie. The beauty of this movie was a Vibrant Shah Rukh in a subdued Nerd’s role but still with the energy he gets on screen. Gayatri Joshi was an absolute find and she fits into the role of the staid village teacher who upholds her cause bigger than her life. The movie starts off from where Mohan comes on this vacation to take his Nanny (Kaveriamma) back to the US to only realize that his roots are always in India. Rehman’s music is simply amazing & “Yeh Jo Des hai Tera” is according to me flawless. I of course had this rather inane conversation with a really sad git I know. He hated Swades & I asked him why? I quote him “Arre Boss, why will anyone leave a good job in NASA & come to work in India, Maan..I would never do that”. This quote in reality essays why I loved Swades. It’s not really about a NRI coming back and giving us poor Indians a Hand-out but it’s about coming back to your roots for your identity and for the bigger cause of life. As this was a commercial movie, it does take some things for granted but the story had its heart in the right place and the scene at Ajite Station when Shah Rukh starts to cry and drink the water is really touching. The same applies to the scene where the old lady tells “Bijli”. I also love the scene when John (Mohan’s boss) & Mohan (shah Rukh) are having the final discussion before he heads back home. “Do you know what you are losing?” “I know what I am going to gain”..”You could have gone places” Wry smile from Shah Rukh “I am going places”..Lovely piece of work. The other wonderful thing about Swades is the fact that the Hero does not come back for love or for some pithy shitty reason but for the reason of belonging. When Geeta (Gayatri) gives Shah Rukh a wooden box filled with colours of our soil (lovely scene), you half expect Shah Rukh to go for a distance and then in standard Shah Rukh fashion stand with outstretched arms into which the heroine will collapse. No..This is not how it happens. He goes back, has his own exploratory search as to why he should return and only returns for his own need. This is like the icing on the cake. See Swades for shah Rukh, Ashutosh’s Story & Direction, commitment to craft by all of the team but see it really for Shah Rukh as Mohan Bhargav and his interactions with Kaveriamma, Geeta and the wonderful village where the story takes place. Again a wonderful movie, with an underlying message of Hope & what life stands for.

Like all members of KKK loving their KKK Gang, I love this SSS Club and hope to see more folks from PFC join this gang for which membership is to only see the movie and the rest will simply follow. Now, let me know why you also love or really hate these 3 movies and we can pow-wow

Note: This is a really longish piece and do apologize for the length but I love what am writing about and hence the Verbal Diarrhea…

Cheers & Good Night,
Deepak