The Distant I

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Osian of films

Last weekI lived life 70 mm size. With the Osian cinefan on in town it was difficult for me to do anything else but watch movies. I think Cinefan did a damn good deed by showing Delhites some Egyptian cinema. Egypt is considered to be having the most vibrant filmin the Arab world. There were three notable ones that were screened were Youssef Chahine's Cairo Station, The Yacoubian building and the closing film Cut and Paste. Chahine's Cairo Station was a simple tale of how jealousy takes over a newspaper seller on the platform of Cairo station. Though a very simple story, the depiction of Trade Unions and sensuality ensured that the movie was released 20 years after it's making. One got a taste of contemporary Egypt in The Yacoubian Building(PIC). The Yacoubian building is a structure that exists in Cairo and in it reside people of all shapes and sizes. Based on a eponymous novel, the film following the varied different streams of life the resident's of The Yacoubian Building looks at life in Egypt today. The most beautiful part of the

movie were the Edith Piaf numbers.

The category of films that I saw was the Kenji Mizoguchi retrospective. Belonging to the early 20th century band of film makers Mizoguchi was known for his feminist themes. Among the ones that I caught up with were Osaka Elegy(1936), Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939) and The Woman of the Rumour (1954). Each one was a story of a woman's sacrifice. whether it was a telephone operator who agrees to become her boss's mistress because of her financial constrains in the Osaka Elegy or ....The Last Chrysanthemums in which a poor woman decides to support her lover from a family of rich Kabuki artists to make his mark on his own or The Woman of the rumour, that explores the relationship of a daughter with her mother who runs a Geisha house. Apart from the gamut of emotions that the movies offered they were also a visual treat as there was some very interesting scenes of Japanese theatre like Kabuki and Noh for all to see. Mizoguchi's interaction with geishas forms a strong undercurrent of all these films. The Mizuguchis that I missed included Sansho the Baillif and Streets of Shame.

Other films I saw in the foreign film category were Kim-ki Duk's (known to be Korea's Woody Allen) Time, a scary story about plastic surgery, Tian ZhuangZhuang's The Go Master a quite and beautiful story about the greatest player of Go (a game) in China, Wu Qingyuan

Apart from that the one's I saw in the Indian competition category included Bhairavi as story about music and globalisation in which Priya Gill played the extremely mature and demanding role of woman who belongs to the traditional school of music, married to her father's student who wants to cash in on his in-laws' knowledge and name to attain fame in the world of music. Though a bit slow I thought the movie was a mature in terms of depictions of human relationships and in the understanding of music. And throughout the movie I couldn't help but think how this actually might be the story of Pandit Ravi Shankar. On ne sait pas!

Apart from this I saw Mithya(Hindi), A Grave keeper's tale(Marathi), Paruthiveeran (Tamil), Pothan Vava(Malayalam).

Well each of it was good in it's own way and the storyteller in me can sit through the night explaining each one of it detail. But in a nutshell; Mithya made by Rajat Kapoor (the incestuous uncle in Monsoon Wedding) was almost a remake of Don but I think it was the REALITY of Don. You will have to watch the film due for commerical release this September, to know what I mean.

Directed by Chitra Palekar, Grave keeper's tale (Maati Maay) was the best of the lot. Based on a story by Mahashweta Devi it was the story of a female gravekeeper who is ultimately branded as a ghoul or chudaile and ostrasiced from her village, distancing her from her own son. Starring Nandita Das and Atul Kulkarni this one was a truely heartrending one.

Paruthiveeran, directed by Ameer despite its high degree of violence and a very very bloody gruesome rape scene, tugged my heart for the sheer power of love and intimacy embodied in a woman scream living life on the knife's edge. The movie basically dealt with caste wars in rural Tamil Nadu.

Last but not the least was Pothan vava, slightly disappointing as earlier Cinefan brought some very no frills mature malayalam movies to town. However I think the loud slapstick comedy strewn with innuendoes, sexist dialogues and yellow green shirts is something every director has to stooped to in the Malayalam film industry today. Dealing with the communal issue the only ray of hope in the movie was Usha Uthup (yes!) who did an excellent job as Pothan Vava's (Mammutty) mother.

Spotted: Mita Vashisht (who has a mousy frame compared to her on screen persona), Rajit Kapoor, Konkana Sen Sharma, Nandita Das, Sanjana Kapoor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda

Journalism: no time for love

A hot humid July afternoon in Delhi. Venue a posh South Delhi location,where the lesser privelged like moi wait for a Blueline or DTC at the bus stop. But as each droplet of sweat lines through our bodies, we realise that we won't be able to get home today if don't mug a car wallah and confiscate his car. for there is no sign of the blueline or the rare specie called the DTC. The Delhi Govt has invited them for a party that's just extending.
Soon the college girls, after about 30 minutes of giggling, chatting, whining decide to call their papas to pick them up. Well, as for the not-so-lucky ones like moi, there were three options: mug a carwallah, walk it down or simply take an auto. As I stood around considering the options possible, car drove up to the bus stop. In it was a press photographer with dark skin and rather shifty eyes and beautiful femme, who had this 'partner-in-conspiracy' kind of expression on her face. The PP jumped out of the car with aplomb, made the poor girls standing at the bus stop for the past one hour;ready to drop dead any moment , pose in at least 7-8 forms of groups of girls waiting for bus. I mentally typed out a caption for the next morning's paper, "College girls stranded as Bluelines remain of the road for second consecutive day" or some such thing. Once the shots were done, the shifty eyed PP jumped back into the car as the femme started the engine and drove off. Well, what I just show was just a regular photo shoot that the PPs regularly do. But I thought there was something missing. How about some courrtesy, chivalry from the PP and his femme. Considering that there were so many young 'uns waiting for a bus for almost an hour now he could have had the basic manners of asking whether he could be off any help in this situation. May be he could have just dropped them till half way through. But then I guess the picture wouldn't hold. He couldn't really help out the girls he just photographed, as that would just change what he wanted to display. If those stranded at bus-stops are being helped by passing carwallahs then where is the story? May be then the fact that they are being helped by the carwallahs? But I guess that's a dilemma that journalism is always in whether to get involved or not. But then if journalism can be biased and tilted in the wrong directions, then why can't it be a bit kind sometimes?

Anyway, humanism is something that not only journalist lack but also people in general. This week people where waiting for hours in at bus stops in Delhi because of the lack of buses. Those that came were packed. if one of them decides to take an auto among the group can't he simply as another person next to him whether he would like to come along in case the route is the same. It's not that this gesture is absent, I did see a few random instances of auto and car sharing. But I really wish it would be more. 'Coz the shortage of buses is not a personal problem but a civic problem which everyone should join in to resolve.

My belief that Osian Cinefan has proved wrong as Cinefan is very much gracing Delhi this year, with a focus on Arab and Asian cinema. Once again a treat for lovers of good cinema!

America ...

and the Island of bird droppings

Summer is like ice cream, enjoy it before it melts

So what if Osian's cinefan, a film fest wherein I have seen some wonderful movies of our times has moved to Mumbai. I had my own little fest going on. Some of the movies screened were:

Cheeni Kum (Hindi) Rating:*****
Springtime in a Small town (Chinese with EST*) Rating ****
Orphee (French) Rating ****
Thelma and Louise (English, US) Rating*****
Ghaire Bhaire (at last!!) (Bengali with EST) Rating ****
Water (Hindi with EST) Rating *****

And still some more to go....

*EST: English Subtitles

A sign?

For those wondering where the Woman with Blue Hat disappeared. Here it is: She was gracing the French teacher's cupboard of the Foreign Language Department of a Delhi-based school. No marks for guessing which French teacher's cupboard it was! Well, all of it happened quite suddenly and one fine days as moi while preparing for a lesson was looking in my cupboard, I was surprised to find the Lady looking straight at me. I almost said 'Hello' to her. Since I realised that I am missing her a lot on my blog, I've decided she should stay on. So welcome back Lady!

An ode to Chaat

Something that I can live on forever....

The potatoes sizzle in a pond of oil
On a tawa bordered with tikkis

In a glass cabinet
sit the dry papadis
dreaming of moist bhallas

unknown to the giddy madness
that shall rock their beings
under the warm covers
of tamarind, mint and curd

(Read at the Delhi Poetree session held at the American Centre, New Delhi on May 4, 2007)