There are some movies which we forget instantly and then are some like Paris Je T'aime, which linger on in our memories. The movie's unique selling point is its 22 directors. Each director has directed a short film (5 min) and all of them have been put together like a collage, the bits melding seamlessly with the whole. Because of the sheer number, one tends to forget a film or two but when reminded of them we instantly remember the story.
Even among all the brilliantly done films, Gurinder Chadha's clip stands out. It depicts a chance interaction between a white, Christian French teenager and a French Muslim girl. The beauty lies in the simplicity with which she shows how easy it is for two communities to exist if there is mutual tolerence and respect on both sides.
My other favourites were the miming couple, a tragi-comedy with a surprising ending, and the story of the Nigerian guy. In the first clip, the oddball pair find each other in a jail and live happily ever after, their story recited by their 10 year old son. The second clip was a story of a Nigerian guy who does odd jobs and dreams of asking a pretty black, French university student out for coffee. He gets knifed trying to chase the woman but she remains unaware till the very end (she doesn't even recognise him till he sings the same song which he used to sing while working at the parking lot where she parked her car). While the lyrics are incomprehensible, the song remains in your consciousness, soft as a spring breeze.
Some of the films also focussed on parent-child relationships, the most poignant being the young mother who leaves her baby at a day care to take care of a rich woman's baby. The scene where she sings the same lullaby to put both children to sleep reminded me of a scene in the old Hindi film "Sujata", where the young mother sings a lullaby (hawa dheere ana) to put both her baby daughter as well as the unwanted, orphan baby to sleep.
The aging couple getting a divorce or once famous film star couple trying to recapture their lost passion or the husband devastated by his wife's death although he was planning to divorce her -- all show different nuances of love.
The film ends with a clip about a middle aged single American woman who comes alone to Paris on a holiday, tries out her French on the natives (who answer back in English) , starts yearning for a companion and ends up falling in love with Paris nonetheless. It left me with a strange feeling -- would I end up like her, a nice but slightly pathetic creature for whom people feel sorry? I don't know why women are the ones who are depicted as these lonely, pathetic creatures who end up yearning for a companion in their middle ages. But I guess some stereotypes are hard to overcome even by the avante garde French directors!
There were some films which were plain incomprehensible -- especially the vampire love story and the Asian salon story -- but they are too few to matter. Watch the film for the sheer brilliance in terms of ideas, humour and poignancy.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Bheja fried, boiled or sunny side up?
With a name like Bheja Fry, one wouldn't need to take too wild a leap of the imagination to peg it as a comedy. However, the question to give one sleepless nights is what kind: would it be a tacky David Dhawan-Govinda type comedy with inane storylines and silly humour or a whacky, Rahul Bose (remember Jhankaar Beats and Pyaar ke Side Effects) type comedy with tongue-in-cheek humour!
Luckily for us, director Sagar Ballary gives us an honest to goodness comedy of errors. The movie, lacking star power, depends solely on an interesting storyline and good acting (hallelujah to that!) to carry it through. And carry it does on the able shoulders of Rajat Kapoor as Ranjeet Thadani and Vinay Pathak as Bharat Bhushan. Thadani and his friends have a passtime, a bit cruel but mostly harmless fun. They invite a quirky but not too bright personality to a Friday dinner and entertain themselves with his antics but do not let on that he's the designated joker. Yes, welcome to life of the rich and the bored! Thadani is a director of a music company with oodles of money (mostly black) and Bharat Bhushan is an Income Tax officer with one abiding passion: Bollywood songs and trivia and unknown to him, he is the designated joker for that Friday's dinner. What happens next is a series of mishaps because of which Thadani is forced to spend the Friday evening with a sprained back, an absconding and possibly unfaithful wife (played by Sarika) and Mr Bharat Bhushan. In his quest to locate his wife, Thadani makes the mistake of elisting Mr Bhushan's help. A comedy of error follows where Thadani is forced to befriend his wife's first husband (and incidentally his one time friend, played by Milind Soman!), invite another Income Tax officer, Asif Merchant, to his house in order to get an address of a pirated CD seller and get slapped by his "nymphomaniac" girl friend!
If there was one flaw, it was the absolute caricaturisation of Asif's character (played by Ranvir Shorey). But I couldn't get a handle on what the caricature was based on. However, the rivalry between Asif and Bharat Bhushan over India-Pakistan cricket matches was a treat to watch. While the politically correct might take offence and accuse the director of pandering to the Hindutva brigade by showing Asif as a Pakistan team supporter, the more discerning would hopefully see the humour in it. The fact that Bharat Bhushan and Asif are also best of friends and Bhushan characterises Asif as one of the most honest and keen eyed officers in the IT office might act as hints.
But, all things considered, its a nice, fun and above all intelligent movie. May their tribe increase!
Luckily for us, director Sagar Ballary gives us an honest to goodness comedy of errors. The movie, lacking star power, depends solely on an interesting storyline and good acting (hallelujah to that!) to carry it through. And carry it does on the able shoulders of Rajat Kapoor as Ranjeet Thadani and Vinay Pathak as Bharat Bhushan. Thadani and his friends have a passtime, a bit cruel but mostly harmless fun. They invite a quirky but not too bright personality to a Friday dinner and entertain themselves with his antics but do not let on that he's the designated joker. Yes, welcome to life of the rich and the bored! Thadani is a director of a music company with oodles of money (mostly black) and Bharat Bhushan is an Income Tax officer with one abiding passion: Bollywood songs and trivia and unknown to him, he is the designated joker for that Friday's dinner. What happens next is a series of mishaps because of which Thadani is forced to spend the Friday evening with a sprained back, an absconding and possibly unfaithful wife (played by Sarika) and Mr Bharat Bhushan. In his quest to locate his wife, Thadani makes the mistake of elisting Mr Bhushan's help. A comedy of error follows where Thadani is forced to befriend his wife's first husband (and incidentally his one time friend, played by Milind Soman!), invite another Income Tax officer, Asif Merchant, to his house in order to get an address of a pirated CD seller and get slapped by his "nymphomaniac" girl friend!
If there was one flaw, it was the absolute caricaturisation of Asif's character (played by Ranvir Shorey). But I couldn't get a handle on what the caricature was based on. However, the rivalry between Asif and Bharat Bhushan over India-Pakistan cricket matches was a treat to watch. While the politically correct might take offence and accuse the director of pandering to the Hindutva brigade by showing Asif as a Pakistan team supporter, the more discerning would hopefully see the humour in it. The fact that Bharat Bhushan and Asif are also best of friends and Bhushan characterises Asif as one of the most honest and keen eyed officers in the IT office might act as hints.
But, all things considered, its a nice, fun and above all intelligent movie. May their tribe increase!
Should I feel guilty?
One day my boss told me if there is a deadline then it’s my duty to stay at office till 11 in the night to finish it. When I told him, there were logistical problems because I lived in Gurgaon which is an hour from my work place and very unsafe to boot for anyone traveling at night, his answer was ‘but we provide a cab for you!’ Mind you, the cab is just hired from a local taxi stand (not a company owned or employed cab or driver). But apparently, for the boss, it’s totally safe for a woman to go in such a cab at 11 pm from Delhi to Gurgaon! When I objected, he looked suitably startled and said, ‘but you can’t expect me to drop you home.’ I was so taken aback by his attitude that I started wondering if I was over-reacting.
The next day, walking down the road on my way to lunch at a nearby place, I had to pass a group of men sitting around a table at a roadside food stall. Nothing happened. In other words, no one whistled, tried to grope or even sing an obscene song. They just leched by undressing me with their eyes. But that’s business as usual on Indian streets. You learn to ignore such looks with a feeling of relief even while your skin crawls….at least they didn’t try to grope me or pass an obscene comment or try to follow me.
That same day, I was sitting after office hours reading a book and waiting for my father to pick me up. Other colleagues had left for the day. The place was in darkness except for the floor I was sitting. Suddenly, it occurred to me that I was alone in the building with a couple of office boys (night guard and one or two other workers). The first thought that came to my mind was ‘what if they see me alone and try something funny?’ Yes….even in my mind I used the word ‘funny’ as a euphemism for rape. I immediately got up, switched off my computer and went downstairs to wait for my father on the road….and felt relieved that I had the presence of mind to avoid a potentially unsafe situation.
Again, the question came to my mind. Am I over-reacting? But then, I started thinking about it from a different angle. What if I had remained in the room and had got molested or God forbid raped? Would I then be told that I was stupid to have not realized the danger of sitting alone in an almost empty office? That I should have taken reasonable precautions for my safety with the implication that as I had not done so, I somehow deserved the molestation or rape.
I realized that in our society one half of the population has no idea what the other half has to endure. Or even if they do, they choose to ignore it. To my boss, it was unreasonable of me to refuse to work late at night even when he was providing me with transport. But, if I did use the transport and something ‘bad’ (another euphemism for rape!) happened, society (by that I mean family, friends, police, court, general public….) would automatically blame me for being stupid enough to have taken a cab alone at night.
It is a dilemma that, I believe, all women face, especially in a society like India where modernity has yet to lose its reputation as a corrupter of morals. If women want to be taken seriously at the work place, making “excuses” about safety or family emergency is akin to committing hara-kiri of their career. On the other hand, if in their quest for professional glory (or just to keep themselves from being fired), they do ignore personal safety or a family emergency, they are seen to epitomize modernity in all its ugliness. Of course, that happens only if the woman is unfortunate enough to get molested, raped or killed. Instead of blaming the perpetrator of the act, the blame is heaped on the woman. What was she doing so late at night at that part of the town? Why was she taking the bus/auto/cab so late at night? These are the questions that are asked furtively and not so furtively.
I don’t know if changes will happen in ten or twenty years time or even in my lifetime. But change it must for a society to be called truly modern and egalitarian, where both men and women have equal right to safety and equal right not to be blamed as a victim for “encouraging” the perpetrator.
The next day, walking down the road on my way to lunch at a nearby place, I had to pass a group of men sitting around a table at a roadside food stall. Nothing happened. In other words, no one whistled, tried to grope or even sing an obscene song. They just leched by undressing me with their eyes. But that’s business as usual on Indian streets. You learn to ignore such looks with a feeling of relief even while your skin crawls….at least they didn’t try to grope me or pass an obscene comment or try to follow me.
That same day, I was sitting after office hours reading a book and waiting for my father to pick me up. Other colleagues had left for the day. The place was in darkness except for the floor I was sitting. Suddenly, it occurred to me that I was alone in the building with a couple of office boys (night guard and one or two other workers). The first thought that came to my mind was ‘what if they see me alone and try something funny?’ Yes….even in my mind I used the word ‘funny’ as a euphemism for rape. I immediately got up, switched off my computer and went downstairs to wait for my father on the road….and felt relieved that I had the presence of mind to avoid a potentially unsafe situation.
Again, the question came to my mind. Am I over-reacting? But then, I started thinking about it from a different angle. What if I had remained in the room and had got molested or God forbid raped? Would I then be told that I was stupid to have not realized the danger of sitting alone in an almost empty office? That I should have taken reasonable precautions for my safety with the implication that as I had not done so, I somehow deserved the molestation or rape.
I realized that in our society one half of the population has no idea what the other half has to endure. Or even if they do, they choose to ignore it. To my boss, it was unreasonable of me to refuse to work late at night even when he was providing me with transport. But, if I did use the transport and something ‘bad’ (another euphemism for rape!) happened, society (by that I mean family, friends, police, court, general public….) would automatically blame me for being stupid enough to have taken a cab alone at night.
It is a dilemma that, I believe, all women face, especially in a society like India where modernity has yet to lose its reputation as a corrupter of morals. If women want to be taken seriously at the work place, making “excuses” about safety or family emergency is akin to committing hara-kiri of their career. On the other hand, if in their quest for professional glory (or just to keep themselves from being fired), they do ignore personal safety or a family emergency, they are seen to epitomize modernity in all its ugliness. Of course, that happens only if the woman is unfortunate enough to get molested, raped or killed. Instead of blaming the perpetrator of the act, the blame is heaped on the woman. What was she doing so late at night at that part of the town? Why was she taking the bus/auto/cab so late at night? These are the questions that are asked furtively and not so furtively.
I don’t know if changes will happen in ten or twenty years time or even in my lifetime. But change it must for a society to be called truly modern and egalitarian, where both men and women have equal right to safety and equal right not to be blamed as a victim for “encouraging” the perpetrator.
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