Film Review: Laapata Ladies

 #LaapataaLadies on #Netflix

This film made me realise an important thing - The heartland is to Bollywood what the snake charmer was to the 19th Century English Sahab. It is the single story of India. Or, let me be blunt - it is the caricature of India that they love to perpetuate.

And just like the English sahab, Bollywood crams all its stereotypes of "Bharat" into the motif - snake charmer or heartland.

There is no such thing as "real" heartland. People everywhere are multi-dimensional. But in Bollywood, single dimension humans exist in these single story products - the good chhotu, the innocent Phool, the sincere dulha, the greedy Pardeep, the evil inspector... If you can describe all of your major characters using single adjectives, you are not looking at story telling. You are looking at caricatures. Which is what Bollywood's story telling of India is.

Kiran Rao's earlier work has not been like this. In the Ship of Theseus, she so sensitively brought together the various back stories. So, like many others, I was waiting for this film. But I am angry. Angry that someone gets away with selling pictures of India that have remained unchanged in 50 years. That they can start with a premise so utterly nonsensical that two brides and two grooms will be identically dressed, will get seats in the same physical space, and most importantly, through the journey, will spend so little time communicating with each other that when the time to alight comes, the man will actually awaken the wrong bride! Angry that this snake charmer story telling is being consumed by urban Indians who have never interacted with the smart people who live in rural India, as good storytelling! Seriously WTF.

If you like Laapata Ladies, you have not travelled in an Indian train for a long, long time. But you might remember that as children, when you travelled by train, everyone around you knew where you were getting off. If the station was to come at night, there would be someone charged with the duty of waking u up two stations before, so you can "freshen up" before getting off. There would be people to receive you at the station. Night or day.

If you have not been to the heartland for a long time, you might want to know that a woman going missing is not something that will be taken as lightly as someone filing a police report two days later. The entire village will get on the next day's train, get off on every single station on the route of that train, and ask if a certain woman was found there. And even before that, the two couples would have shared the stories of their lives, not just their geographies. SO, the groom would know exactly where to go to try and get his wife back, and where to take his "bhojai" to her home.

And if you ever find a bride traveling in Indian rail with 150 grams of gold jewelry on her, please take a picture.

Until then, enjoy the snake charmer.

On Office politics

वो समझता था कि वो सूरज है तो उसके आस पास अंधेरा हो ही नहीं सकता। 

उसे याद रखना चाहिए था कि परछाई भी एक चीज़ होती है, और कुछ लोग, परछाई के जैसे होते हैं - ठीक सूरज की नाक के नीचे, उसी की रोशनी इस्तेमाल कर के, अंधेरा फैलाते हैं। 

She thought she was the sunshine, so she could light up everything around her. 

She should have considered shadows. She should have known that some people are like shadows - they use the light of the sun to create darkness. 

*The post is deliberately written as He in Hindi and She in English. Its not a translation error :) 

Book Review: Dark Horse by Nilotpal Mrinal

The story is about IAS aspirants who live in Delhi and prepare for their exams - THE Indian Civil Service. 

Many of these aspirants are from Bihar. The story features these protagonists from various backgrounds - mostly rural and poor, and is a general story of their triumphs, losses, families, and frustrations. 

The book is well written and even though there are multiple characters, each character has only one dominant trait, so one does not easily get lost. 

Its a good, breezy read. 

Surprisingly good ideas that popped in my head - I

 We all know that the Deccan plateau is made of volcanic rocks.

But... where is the crater?

*********************** 

And we are at Today

I loved him 

and he loved me too. 

Then he stopped. 

And I.... didn't. 

*Notes: The title is to be read first, then the piece, and then the title again. Instead of saying And I... never did, i stayed with a single word, but struggled to communicate the continuity of the emotion. So, the title covered that. 

I hope you like it. 

** The piece is inspired by Neruda's "Tonight i can write the saddest lines" 

On turning 21

Why didn't you tell me you were not well? 

Because you would have just laughed it off and said, 'You're a horse. You will only die of old age.'. I wanted to have the pleasure of looking you in the eye and telling you, "I'm not a horse. I am a girl. I will not die of old age. I will die of a broken heart." 

Goodbye to the Salim-Javed ideology - Once more

I was raised on the Salim-Javed brand of communist manifesto cinema in India - in which the poor are good just because they are poor and the rich are bad just because they are rich. Of course, if they are rich, they must be bloodsuckers and corrupt bribers because what other way is there to get rich? 

In 1991, India had to physically ship its gold just to retain its financial sovereignty. One of the lowest points any country could see. No one said it then, but I can say it now - THAT low point was the result of the communist policies of our government from 1947 - 1990. What started as a welfare state soon turned into a pseudo communist state, and under Indira, the cultural colonisation of India was completed. (Watch Tashkent Files for details). 

But as one grew up, one realised that not all rich people are bad. In fact, in India. most people - rich or poor - definitely donate a percentage of their earnings to "something good". Common sense states that 10% of a larger pie will lead to a greater impact. 

And that is when the narrative of Salim - Javed fell through for me. The rich are not blood suckers. They are silent philanthropists. Not all of them are good. Not all of them are bad. The poor are not good just by virtue of being poor. They are poor also because they spend their money on alcohol and beat up their wives and kids. Some of them are hardworking and caught in a whirlpool of circumstances. But for many, many of them, the Salim-Javed narrative created a mental exit barrier out of poverty. They were led to believe that the poor have a support system for each other. Exiting poverty would lead to the end of that support system. 

Unfortunately, we now have a country that believes that being poor is a free pass to doing illegal things and getting away with it. 

We also have generations that believe that being poor is not their fault. They have no obligation to create wealth, educate their children, and work towards a wealthier future. And a large chunk of the population that believes it is the government's responsibility to take care of their education, health, and employment. That it is their right to steal electricity, grab land, and generally take advantage of public infrastructure. 

The welfare state may have been a Utopian idea, but it was an idea worth pursuing - one in which the rich can be rich and the poor would be supported.  

But one thing it cannot discount - individual accountability. The state owes you an electricity and clean water connection. But you need to pay for your consumption. The state owes you subsidised medical facilities - but you need to ensure that you use them responsibly. The state owes you subsidised food, but one needs to have smaller families that strive to get out of the poverty whirlpool. 

Is education the panacea? Are small families the best solution? No. there is no one best solution. There cannot be a universal cure. But the INTENT to move out of poverty - the idea of individual responsibility - that has to be universal. 

 

Film Review

 #SheSaid on #Netflix

There are many worlds in our world. But for most women facing sexual harassment at the workplace, there was only one world - the Kingdom of Silence.

Until #MeToo happened. And then, all hell broke lose. Harvey Weinstein went from being a hotshot Hollywood producer to a PNG.

But have you ever wondered how it happened? Who took the first step? Who filed the first report? The first case? How is one of the most important people in the film industry spending 23 +16 years in prison?

This 2022 masterpiece is one of the most powerful documentaries in the already impressive Netflix repertoire. It is important enough to pause other "Continue Watching"s for a day.

Film Review: Fighter

 #Fighter on #Netflix 

Everyone has been panning Fighter, but we cannot underplay one achievement of the director - it takes a LOT to have such terrible casting, incredibly bad choreo, a mishmash of masala mixes that create total confused cacophony, and STILL lend your name to the project. This has to be a broth cooked by too many cooks. One person would have lent SOME personality to the story telling. This is like bhanumati ne kunba joda, kahin ki eent kahin ka roDa. 

It's a proper case of "What were they thinking?" 

I started this film for HR, and he is the only watchable part of the film. But that "Sher khul gaye" step made it hard to even see him! 

Everyone who wanted to see the film already has, but if, like me, you are among the late junta, looking to see some decent movie to kill time, this is NOT it. Unless you are a HUGE Hrithik fan. And even then, its a test of your love. How much nonsense can you tolerate just to see him on screen. #NotExaggerating. 

The only exception being the restaurant "Please" scene - which you can see on Youtube. 

Some ppl have liked the CGI and the action sequences. I wouldn't know. I dont know of a universe in which every other flight goes down with a single hit but one aircraft takes hits like it is a punching bag and keeps going. I also dont know of two aircrafts that collide mid air and the pilots eject just in time, exactly over the battle spot, and continue to become ground warriors. And these are only the parts that one could watch. Baaki to forward karne laayak bhi nahi tha. 

So wonderful is the chemistry between the lead pair that the eventual kiss scene had my brain going - Tissot Meets Rado (Not making this up. Seriously this popped up in my head as that scene played). 

If you are into action cinema, this *might* be your thing. Might. 

For everything else, there's plenty out there. 

Quick Summary: Hrithik Roshan is great, but even he can't save this film.