Tryst with Cinema
iView Author: Shreyansh Shukla (Mumbai, India)
Email: neel219[at]gmail[dot]com
Tryst with Cinema
As the name suggests, this is a story about transition, about self-realization, about what to do and what not to do in life and after life.
Also the Title says so many things, about life coming a full circle, may be a vicious circle.
Mard was the first movie I saw in theatre, Gulaal is latest. Somewhere later in this article I will tell you, why is it a full circle.
Movies to me where a means of avoiding books, tuitions, my mom’s constant blabbering about (what else) studies? In those golden era of VCR’s, our family would gather around our ONIDA TV and watch some classics. “TRIDEV” ,“Thanedar”, “ Love Love Love” , “Khudaar”, “Toofan” , “Akela”,
“Himmatawala”, Ram Lakhan” etc and a thousand other potboilers. Also sometimes we used to see “Horror” movies like “20 saal baad”- Dimple with her long hands stretched infinitely is still fresh in my mind. In my dreams she used to snatch my glass of milk with those hands.
Feels really strange, but we never brought movies like “ Silsila”, “Kabhi Kabhi” or “Ijaazat” in those days.( I never got the answer to this question. Was it that good movies were priced higher? Or the Cassette vendor only kept masala mindless flicks? Did he get a commission form those fat, bald, Punjabi/Marwari/South Indian Producers?)
My parents could like the same movie for totally different reasons. My dad would love the fights and mom would love the songs and dance.
Ever seen a masala movie or most of the 80’s movies in which you FF :-
Songs
Fights
Rape /Bathing scene
Crying scenes
I did, I saw most of the movies in that mode and completed all the movies in 20 mins flat. Surprisingly didn’t miss much of the little story the movie had.
I was as happy as any 10 yr old could be seeing such movies.But somewhere down the line, my dad took me to a movie called “Schindlerl’s List”.And the world was never the same again!
I had seen English Movies earlier, the Home Alones, Die Hards, Speed, Jurassic Park etc. But Schindler’s list shook me, made me think( no other movie had ever done that earlier) I said to myself “WOW, I never knew movies could be so good, choke you with being emotionally manipulative.”
I have put down a list, not in any particular order, of some of the movie that have defined “my taste for movies”. Any movie to be categorized in the “GREAT” category has to fulfill one basic criteria “Every moment should be a Monument”
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1. Godfather :- Had heard non stop raving for this movie from anyone and everyone who was even remotely associated with theatre/movies. But surprisingly did not see it till my 3rd year of Engineering, Made the fatal error of watching the movies, as soon as I had finished reading the last page of the Novel. Was a bit disappointed with the movie ( no one I have met till date has said that he was “disappointed”). But the movie is like Rahman Music- I don’t know if that is a fair or even a sensible comparison- it grows on you. There are so many beautiful nuances in the movie, amazing underplay of acting, background movie. After seeing the movie, the movie haunts you, when you are recollecting a scene, you pause with the pause in the actor’s dialogue. For me a movie is really great when it can have such an incredible impact. The aesthetic grace of DON, the helpless timidness of Fredo , the “Raging Bull” act of “Sonny”, and the “how to act guidebook” by Al Pacino. Again it falls in the “Great” category simply because one can see, hear& learn new facets with every repeat watching. Any movie, book or music which gives you that joy, is undoubtedly in the “Great” category!
2. Ijaazat- This movie would surprise many, but for me; it’s the only movie which has an impeccable story, an incredible maturity from the writer/director Subodh Ghosh/Gulzar. “Saans Lena bhi kya ajeeb aadat hain, zinda rehna bhi kya ajeeb aadat hain. Phir bhi jeeye jaate hain” Cant imagine any other line describes life such beautifully. Of course, every dialogue sounds like a poetry in motion. The poise, sincerity and the helplessness with which each actor portrays the character is really heart-felt. Every single dialog between the characters is worthy of interpretation, worthy of quiet listening. It makes you wonder, what was said, what was unsaid, what was implied, what was hidden, what was meant. It also helps when Naseerudin and Rekha are at the helmof acting affairs, Pancham Da gives you unforgettables and Asha pours her soul in the magical words of Gulzar. Some unforgettable dialogues “ Yeh, duniya bhi to ek waiting room hi hain” – waiting for real love, waiting to be accepted, appreciated, understood, loved and waiting for a million other things. Seldom has any Indian Movie shown so much maturity in a love story,or in fact any story.
3. Satya – The beginning of my “Love-Hate” relationship with RGV.I still remember the movie was released when I was 9th grade and almost at the same time of KKHH. When everyone was raving about the “Cool Quotient” of SRK- his T shirts, his chain and the locket, and some pyaar, shaadi and dil dialogues were making my my male friends popular among gals, I was busy writing a prequel to Satya! What Sucked me in the movie, at that time, was the blatant use of abusive language. Before Satya only in Bandit Queen, one could hear BCs and MCs; but that felt as a happening of completely distant land. But Satya was what happened to me, to my city, to my friends and to my life. It was almost like a mirror to Mumbai. The bylanes, the sound and smell of the Tabelas, the Bars, the chawls, the Ganpati Visarjan, the brawls, the aspirers, the dreamers and the UNDERWORLD & COPS. Wow! What a cocktail! Vaastav another movie of the same genre failed to capture Mumbai and its under belly the way RGV did. Strange because Mahesh Manjrekar is from Mumbai while RGV is a migrant.
One of the interesting comparisons I had posted earlier is :-
“I still remember once going to my dad’s where his colleagues were talking about these two movies. Being the youngest in the group, everyone was at least 15 yrs elder to me, i was just listening to other people’s comment. I came across some unique insights:-
1) People who had seen Godfather, liked Satya
2)Thos who had spent their younger days in chawl liked Vaastav
3)People who were artistic liked Satya
4) Those who spoke loudly and were short tempered liked Vaastav
5) Calm, calculative guys liked Satya
6) Females Loved Satya
It was a very random samling method, but i still guess it holds true
But even i was suprised, when many of the women i knew liked Vaastav more.
May be because Vaastav was predictable and it fitted in the bracket of “Hindi Movie”. Till the end Sanju was the hero but the politician and others were villians. charatcer of Bhikhu Mhatre was a typical Marathi Chawl Goon.But somehow the brutality and rawness of his character was missing in Sanju’s.
While Satya, there was no hero or villian.It was more like a mirror of the Mumbai of 99.
“Vaastav is a film – Satya is CINEMA”.
This is what I exactly feel about Satya. Even the background score by Sandeep Chowta is one of the best in Hindi Movies, even the editing is top notch (RGV only bettered in Company).
Each character be it Chandru, every little dialogue “Ram & Shyam joke” , the little nuances of supporting cast- Neeraj Vora, Makrand Deshpande,the hyderabadi, the vasuli guy for Ganpati Chanda, Urmila’s parents all of them fitted their role to perfection.
That brings me to Urmila- has she looked more beautiful, expressive and vulnerable? One scene which very few people, but which showcases the maverick genius of RGV. Vidya asks Satya why was the flat empty till now? To which he replies that he was in the village and that’s why he came late. Vidya interrupts him and completes his sentence”isliye aane main deri hogi”….that was so matter of factly. Do watch the scene again, and you will get what I mean.
I don’t think I can add anything more to the millions of pages written for Bhikhu Mhatre, apart from that he can safely die and walk directly into heavens just by the virtue of his performance!
Thus I became a sucker for parallel/small/different movies…. Cant stand Love stories, Mindless comedies, “chalta hain cinema” or even “one time watch” movies!
I still wonder though, what would have happened if my dad wouldn’t have taken me for “Schindlerl’s List”
Tags: Godfather, gulal, gulzar, Ijaazat, KKHH, Pancham, rgv, satya, Schindlerl’s List, SRK, Vastava
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
Nice one shukla..But i thnk u shuld hav listed some more movies wch i thnk r classic ones..bt its ur chioce.well written about dose days wen v use to watch movie on VCR..dat time v were so crazy..v use to watch such stupid movies n never knew the depth of good movies like Lamhe,Silsila,Izazat,Masoom,Aandhi,Platoon,Arth…list is endless..Hats off to dese directors
Well Done by your dad! Should we make screening of such classics compulsory for school students?
What about an initiative where school kids are shown good ( u may call the great) movies, when their young minds are very impressionable?
Good choice,especially Ijaazat
will watch Ijaazat & yeah, Satya again (dont remember the scene)
There is one movie which took away my liking to all my childhood masala movies I loved. That is
Mulholland Drive
@Manoj…
I think everyone has thier own “turning point”.
The earlier, the better.
@ Supriya…
Thanks, will surely add more movies as per my taste. I think i should write the movies which i hated the most. :-)
@ Rima…
Thats a nice idea. Not sure if we can implement it.
hey SS, I think u wud like these movies…one of the fantastics of its kind
Sehar (Pankaj Kapoor & Arshad Warsi), Main meri patni aur woh (Rajpal yadav & KK Menon), Blue Umbrella (Pankaj Kapoor)..
@ D,
yes i loved Sehar, its a pity that very few people even know about it. One of the best movies based on life of Cops. I seriousl think Arshad Warsi is one hell of a under-rated actor!
Last heard, the director of Sehar had made some crap called Chamku.
@Shreyansh…Confessions of a sucker for parallel/small/different movies..great start to posting in PFC…My turning point was mainly due to three films..’the Good , the Bad , the Ugly’, ‘Pyaasa’ and ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha’…I started loving good cinema everafter…
Couldn’t agree more on Satya and Vaastav comparison…
Waiting for you list of worst movies… :-)
What drove me towards “meaningful” cinema was the 80’s decade itself. Till then, i loved the masala flicks, and found the art house stuff “boring”. But then considering that what passed off for entertainment in the 80’s and even the 90’s was absolute rubbish, it just drove me towards looking at more better cinema. As a kid i loved watching masala stuff like Don, Hum Kisise Kum Nahin, Sholay umpteen times. But by the time the 80s’ came, i could not sit through a regular masala flick, for more than 20-30 minutes.
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That was the time i started to discover “Masoom”, “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro”,”Anand”,”Katha”, “Chashme Buddoor”,”Arth Satya” thanks to DD. But trust me i still love the oldie Hindi movies from 50’s-70’s, they were true entertainers.
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Regarding English flicks, while i grew up on Raiders of Lost Ark, Where Eagles Dare, Mackennas Gold, ET, i think first time i watched a serious, dramatic movie was “Chariots of Fire”, a very underrated classic. But it took me sometime to watch more serious flicks in English, coz it was hard to understand the dialogue for me. Then later Forrest Gump, Schindlers List happened to me.
During the 80’s, i never felt like stepping in a theater to watch a Hindi flick. I did go to see Shahenshah, just for sake of AB, and after time i was desperately looking to get out of the theater as soon as possible. That was the time DD used to show those wonderful oldie Hindi flicks on TV, and i preferred to spend Sunday evenings in front of it. Only time i would go to a theater was for the latest Hollywood flick. However crappy the movie might be, at least i would not have to spend 3.5 hours in the theater, enduring it.
@ RAM V…
Thanks Bhai! Pyaasa had that effect on me too! One more thing that we sorely miss is lack of Good regional cinema! Especially 2 Gujjus. Havent seen or heard about 1 sensible movie coming from there. Even in Marathi cinema, we get hardly 1 or 2 movies worth watching in a year. Most of the movies made in Guj/Mah seem to me as if they are catering to viewers with -ve IQ.
In that regards, viewers down south are really lucky!
@ RS…
Thats a very valid point that initially all of us find Parallel/Art House Cinema Boring( may be in the same way, that initially we find Beer bitter):-)
But I serioulsy wont call Sholay a Masala flick.
But the movies which u mentioned, Ardh Satya, Masoom, Arth were the pillars of the parallel movement.
Like us, Forest Gump, Schindlerl’s & Saving Private Ryan were the turning points for many Movie-Buffs!
Shreyansh-goot heartfelt post.In my case like most other kids I started off with masala movies, picked up interest in the middle of the road and the more intelligent cinema & from then on I’ve been trying to maintain a fine balance between the two.For me the big credit must go to D.D- I used to enjoy watching the award winning movies in the Sunday afternoon slot- saw a lot of the masters like Satyajit Ray,Adoor Gopalakrishnan,Aravindan etc.Hollywood exposure to the better movies happened by chance after I saw some classics like Benhur,The Ten commandments etc and some really good westerns as a kid.So now while I can still watch a good commercial flick for the entertainment & escapism, I would always complement it later with my kind of film.
So by the time movies like Drohkaal,Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin etc came, I was well on the road to liking good cinema.So after that when I again watched movies like Arth,Saaransh,Masoom etc I could appreciate it even better.
@ Sethu…
So DD does deserve some credit after all! As u mentioned that u still watch some commercial flick for escapism, but i cant do that, i just cant make myself watch any form of escapist cinema!
@Shreyansh…’viewers down south are lucky’..not really, even 90% of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam cinema is the same horse-shit that is being fed as masala flicks…none in India can escape this… :-) Sad but true
@Shreyansh
If u take movies like Raiders of Lost Ark, Amar Akbar Antony, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, ET all of them are escapist entertainment with a capital E, but even now to date we still enjoy watching them. The fact is escapist cinema, can be watchable, if treated with an intelligent plotting, good characterization, tight screenplay.
Unfortunately in the name of Entertainment, we are asked to accept all sorts of trash thrown at us. People dont realize that you dont need to dumb down to entertain the audiences. Lagaan, Munnabhai series, have proved that its possible to entertain audiences without offending ones sensibility.
South Indian cinema, especially Malayalam cinema used to be good really in the 80 and early 90s..I remember multiple good movies running parallel in cinemas in kerala once upon a time..but it has been a steady decline..Now a good cinema in Malayalam is rarity..
Tamil is better…with new directors like Bala, Myskin, Amir, Sasi..etc making good movies every now and then…
Kannada is a remake factory…just coming out of bad times…Jhosh has got a good review..have to check it out..
Telugu is again masala..with guys like Shekar Kamulla coming out with better cinema once in a while..
This “Leave your brains at home” brand of entertainment, came into vogue during the 80’s, where audiences were treated like morons. There have been mainstream movie makers like Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, B.R.Chopra, Vijay Anand who valued the tenets of movie making. These people made commercially succesful movies, yet they respected the audiences. But during the 80’s, there came a new breed of movie makers, who cared a hoot for the audience sensibilities, and were just interested in making a quick buck. And most of those movies turned out to be absolutely B Grade vulgar, exploitation flicks, which were the pits of movie making.
@ RAM V…
Viewers down south are really lucky….they are RAM. Just for comparison, try watching a single Gujju/Marathi movie and then try to compare. You will regret saying that statment!South India has given us Kamal Hussan, Rahman and so many others. But not a single stalwart from either Gujju/marathi cinema.
@Ratnakar..I hold the likes of Yash Chopra, Sippy (except Sholay), Nasser Hussein, Manmohan Desai etc responsible for laying the foundation of what we now call as commercial cinema..They have made some good movies, agreed but that overshadows the contribution that they have made in creating masala formula framework. They are the ones who bought in the most revered cliches like triangular love, lost and found brothers, my mother and me etc…They did pay some attention to aesthetics but did not do any particular serious (serious is a important word)research or commentary into the socio-economic or political situation of our country durint the period they made the film…Their films (most of them)stand testimonial to nothing but mindless entertainment…aesthetics and production value notwithstanding…They are the culprits…
@ RS…
Will write a post soon on “Leave ur mind at home” cinema very soon! Just waiting to pour all my anger….
“Coming Soon”
@ Ram
Well i dont think that assesment of Yash Chopra was fair. He made one of the best songless thrillers Ittefaq way back in the 70’s. Dharamputra was a great movie on Partition. Both Kaala Patthar and Mashaal were pretty much gritty. Mashaal in fact has been one of his best movies, but sadly it flopped. And regarding Deewar it was a commentary on the docks mafia that ruled Mumbai during that time. Its another thing that the last memorable movie Yash Chopra made was Lamhe, and post that, the work has been downright unremarkable.
@ RAM & RS….
Even though Yash Chopra, Sippy & Desai didnt make mindless entertainers…. they created this whole aura of mediocracy.
I am a bit biased towards Chopra beacuse of Kabhi Kabhi and Silsila. But all Desai movies were just ordinary cinema. They felt good beacuse of lack of any substantial cinema in those days.
Its like calling Salman a great actor because we have only the likes of Tushar kapoor, Fardeen Khan, Aftab Shivdasani and Sunil Shetty in comparison!
@Shreyansh.. yes you are right if you are talking about earlier period of south cinema…What I said is that in the recent past …South Cinema is equally bad..
Regarding good Marathi and Gujju films only ones I can remember is – Sant Tukaram (the old one) and Shwaas are two good movies, maybe rare from Marathi…recently one or two good ones are there too…I donno much about gujju cinema..but one film I can remember is Bhavni Bhavai by Ketan Mehta
@ Ram, Shreyansh
My point is that Manmohan Desai or Nasir Hussain, did not make masterpieces, but their brand of cinema was harmless fun, you could watch it, have some time pass.
Something that could not be said of the movies in 80’s, which were an assault on the senses in all ways. I mean it was next to impossible to sit through such movies even for 15 minutes. Either you had those Jeetu-Sridevi-Jayaprada starrers which were downright obnoxious, or you had all those Aag, Zala Donga, Zulm, Badla brand of movies, which just gave you a splitting headache.
@ RS 27….
Very True!
@Ratnakar..I dont meant fully write off Yash Chopra…but with his Waqt, and repeated three or four pronged love stories like Kabhi Kabhie, Silsilay, Chandni, Lamhe..etc..It was too much of love overdose..later on other directors who had lesser talent tried to ape these…so when the aesthetics were removed…all that was left behind was what we call now as ‘mindless bollywood entertainers’..
I think YRF, Desai and Sippy laid down the foundation of aesthetic, entertaining and commercial cinema which was somewhat psychologically convincing.
Unlike the 80s onwards directors, who threw every rule out of the book to make very lame cinema. They just made the formula out of the craft.
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Agreed, in hindsight, it feels even the aforementioned directors (YRF et al) found their comfort zone and stayed there. Even with YC, he has always tried to give some twist to the romantic angle.
@vishesh…as if K Asif (poetic rhyme) , Guru Dutt, Chetan Anand did not know to make aesthetic, entertaining and commercial cinema..We are give YC and team a lot of unnecessary hype…YC was a big time opportunist who settled for making nonsense when he could have supported good cinema…That makes him what..you know what…
@ Ram…
Very Well Put….
u can add Raj Kapoor to that list too….
hi shreyansh,
it somewhat connects with my coming to age with watching good films..or “cinema” to be precise..
satya is a classic & gulzar saab’s thoughts make u wonder..can anyone else write like this?? u must read gulzars’ triveni..and raavi paar..(if u haven’t still..m sure u will love it))
try watching these:
1. kannathil muthamittal – mani ratnam
2. jhonny mera naam – dev anand classic
3. the departed – martin scorcese
4. amal – naseeruddin shah
5. naam – mahesh bhatt
and lots lots ….
@ Ram…
I think the problem with Yash Raj Camp is they just do not want to experiment and they have moved from creativity to business models. Use their brand name, take Sharukh Khan or someone else from their camp, use some mediocre script, use foreign locations and based on the star power release the movie with maximum prints in miltplexes, make your money and profit and get out. They care a damn now for making good films.. It’s sad .. some credit should be given to Yash Raj films for making sensitive love stories in the 70s and 80s but they have now killed romance in Films…. Now I think 100 times before attempting to watch a Yash Raj film….More disturbing is that they have also created a 100 clone directors with YRF type of filmmaking…..
@Chanakya…
Thanks 4 d recommendations. Will try and get a hand to Gulzar’s poetry
Yeah, dad’s have a great role to play to imbibe passion for cinema.The first three movies Dad took me to theater was African Safari, Superman-II and Jungle Book and I got hooked to cinema
Like Godfather, undoubtedly Satya is a milestone in Indian Cinema.Do read RGV’s blog on making of it.
On the context of growing cinema the last one I watched was ‘One flew over Cuckoo’s Nest’ few days ago and am yet to get over it.
Cheers!
~uh~
@ ~uh~
Not only dad, i think some1 from the family or some close family member or friend needs to guide a viewer in the early years of an individual induction to Cinema.
I will always be indebted to my Dad and my Cousin Sis, to give me this “taste” in movies!
And about “getting over” some movies, recently Luck By Chance had that affect on me!
@Shreyansh and ~uh~ excellent point…
Hey there,
That is a cool blog & I like the list of movies…but why don’t you add some more? Or make another blog about classic or modern movies and the like?
In any case,well done!
N.
Hi there,
Just read it & that was cool,the list of movies.
but,why don’t you make another blog or add to this 1 of the greatest classics-from the U.S. or wherever? I’m sure a lot of ’80’s kids like me would love it!
Well done!
N.
Shreyansh- Marathi cinema is definitely improving.In the recent past you have had good movies like Shwaas, Anahat,Dombivli Fast,Tingya, Valu,Gabricha Paus,Uttarayan etc.These are just some random names that I know.Yes there is still a long way to go,but atleast things are looking bright.Cannot say the same for Gujarati cinema though.
As far as South Indian cinema is concerned as Ram has already said Malayalam cinema which used to be great in the 80’s & 90’s is now struggling with the occasional good movie coming by.I’ve even written a post in PFC on what ails Malayalam cinema today.Tamil cinema is definitely looking good these days.Kannada is struggling and Telugu mainly has the routine stuff with some good small movies coming in between.
@34 Ashwing Prabhu…agree completely…the problem with YRF and YC, and their likes is that they had the wherewithal to stand for and make good cinema..but made a deliberate choice to make mediocre ‘Formula’ films for profit….it is unpardonable offense against any cinema lover…I may be a bit dramatic and harsh..but it is not done…
@ Norene…
it was a suprise seeing ur comment, will definitely try and put down my thgts abt US movies.
@ Sethu…
I agree with your point that Marathi CInema is doing good, but as compared 2 South its nowhere. Dombivali Fast,Tingya and Shwaaas were no doubt, brilliant piece of art. But they are some occasional flashes of brilliance in an otherwise very very mediocre scenario.
and Gujju( my mother tongue) Cinema has to be one the worst in Regional Cinema!
@ RAM and Ashwing….
I share your agony and anger.
@Ashwin…sorry about mistyping your name as ‘Ashwing’..
@shreyansh,Your Dad must be proud father today and that one movie,Schindler’s List must be his favourite movie till now.
@yayaver.
I hope he is proud of me.
But he has no idea about my Passion 4 cinema, he thinks that i am happy with my job and all.
I guess, everybody has to compromise and learn to act “happy”