when the jar has been emptied
and remains so
when you lose
never to gain
when you move away
and don't get called back
when you move away
but don't come in someone's way
where seasons change
but the heart sees no spring
where there is no cosmic balance
no self regulating ecosystem
when what goes
doesnt come around
when times are not changing
when times don't remain the same
when life is not
that neat set of propositions-
direct and inverse
it is feted out to be
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
never say goodbye
there is an alternate universe out there. in the increasingly plasticy high-pitched blundering yet very much our world of meanings, our family that is hindi cinema, there are finally some relatives we can relate to. vinay pathak, ranvir shorey, rajat kapoor, saurabh shukla, brajendra kale, and the others whose names i dont know but the faces i can recognise- from a small role in that film, from an appearance in that serial. they come together again in Dasvadaniya.
the film marks a hat-trick, coming after bheja fry and mithya. populated by characters who are in situations you hope you never will be in. and yet what marks these bizarre situations- an actor finding himself playing the role of a don in real time, the aspiring singer finding himself a live cartoon, and a regular accountant handed a pink slip of life with three months notice- is its everydayness. a world when you have to wait in real roads, climb real stairs, stare at the real sea hedged in by buildings and visible only from a higher floors of an apartment block, a world where people forged childhood friendships in their 'society' as apartment blocks are called. a world where u can laugh at and yet emphatise with the character. where jokes dont mean an endless routine of caricaturing.
I cant help comparing dasvadaniya with dostana, if only because they came out around the same time. but where the 'aunty aunty' character was so made that she could be humilated, vinay pathak's encounters with his boss and even his clumsiness in the plane (stock fare of slapstick comedy)are strikingly nuanced. he may be a simpleton in many ways, but he is also a mature guy, his assessments of his life and handling of dissappointments touch you. you dont pity him, you identify with him and you respect his feelings.
dasvadaniya is what a film is about for me. unlike dostana, which interests me only as a cultural text (its handling of homosexuality for instance) but irks me for it is not a film. even by the standards of mainstream big budget hindi cinema, dostana makes not even a modicum of effort to develop its characters, make the friendships convincing, trying to see a story in all that display of skin and sand is asking for too much (i am not making a morality argument i must clarify and i do find the relentless focus on John's scantily clad body interesting. but thats what it is- interesting not involving) unlike this shabby-under-all-the-glitz effort, dasvadaniya is a story well told, with restrain, with attention to detail. it is not a new concept and it may never become one of the top 100 films of all time. but it is a film watching experience. not only is it a counter to dostana type assembly productions, it is an effective foil to the other format of hindi cinema- the melodramatic one. in this particular case, it is the perfect answer to the film i do like otherwise- anand.
i liked the fact that when vinay finally gets even with his boss, it is not through a long truimphant dialogue. that his equation with his brother is shown as different from that with his boss, stressing that everyone goes through different roles in life. i liked that contented smile when he manages to tell the love of his life how he feels. and the conversation with the best friend- it was awkward, with pathos but also ordinary in a potentially explosive moment. where memories are recalled, but emotions are incoherently articulated. vinay doesnt moralise, doesnt lecture on what life is, he reflects and you can follow his thought processes.
spoiler alert: what it left unsaid was even better. the guy before his death finalised parting gifts for everyone. but not for three people who can be deemed to be the most important people in his life. he didnt because for these three people he was a active valuable person. theirs were relationships of mutual value. the gifts were for people who had added to his life, made it better especially in the last months. there is no explanation in the film, but i read it as such. and found it brilliant.
the film marks a hat-trick, coming after bheja fry and mithya. populated by characters who are in situations you hope you never will be in. and yet what marks these bizarre situations- an actor finding himself playing the role of a don in real time, the aspiring singer finding himself a live cartoon, and a regular accountant handed a pink slip of life with three months notice- is its everydayness. a world when you have to wait in real roads, climb real stairs, stare at the real sea hedged in by buildings and visible only from a higher floors of an apartment block, a world where people forged childhood friendships in their 'society' as apartment blocks are called. a world where u can laugh at and yet emphatise with the character. where jokes dont mean an endless routine of caricaturing.
I cant help comparing dasvadaniya with dostana, if only because they came out around the same time. but where the 'aunty aunty' character was so made that she could be humilated, vinay pathak's encounters with his boss and even his clumsiness in the plane (stock fare of slapstick comedy)are strikingly nuanced. he may be a simpleton in many ways, but he is also a mature guy, his assessments of his life and handling of dissappointments touch you. you dont pity him, you identify with him and you respect his feelings.
dasvadaniya is what a film is about for me. unlike dostana, which interests me only as a cultural text (its handling of homosexuality for instance) but irks me for it is not a film. even by the standards of mainstream big budget hindi cinema, dostana makes not even a modicum of effort to develop its characters, make the friendships convincing, trying to see a story in all that display of skin and sand is asking for too much (i am not making a morality argument i must clarify and i do find the relentless focus on John's scantily clad body interesting. but thats what it is- interesting not involving) unlike this shabby-under-all-the-glitz effort, dasvadaniya is a story well told, with restrain, with attention to detail. it is not a new concept and it may never become one of the top 100 films of all time. but it is a film watching experience. not only is it a counter to dostana type assembly productions, it is an effective foil to the other format of hindi cinema- the melodramatic one. in this particular case, it is the perfect answer to the film i do like otherwise- anand.
i liked the fact that when vinay finally gets even with his boss, it is not through a long truimphant dialogue. that his equation with his brother is shown as different from that with his boss, stressing that everyone goes through different roles in life. i liked that contented smile when he manages to tell the love of his life how he feels. and the conversation with the best friend- it was awkward, with pathos but also ordinary in a potentially explosive moment. where memories are recalled, but emotions are incoherently articulated. vinay doesnt moralise, doesnt lecture on what life is, he reflects and you can follow his thought processes.
spoiler alert: what it left unsaid was even better. the guy before his death finalised parting gifts for everyone. but not for three people who can be deemed to be the most important people in his life. he didnt because for these three people he was a active valuable person. theirs were relationships of mutual value. the gifts were for people who had added to his life, made it better especially in the last months. there is no explanation in the film, but i read it as such. and found it brilliant.
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