Rains, Films, and a Book
Been a long time since I blogged. Who cares anyway ?
The rains are on in a big way here in Pune. And, predictably, the first thing to go were the roads. I am going to try and post some pictures of the post-rain Pune roads on this blog when I have the time. More horrific than a John Carpenter film, they are sure to send shivers down the viewers' spine.
On the film front, there has been some pretty interesting stuff happening lately.
I enjoyed watching Amol Palekar's Paheli. Seriously, I wonder how filmmakers in India are starved for new stories, what the glorious heritage of folk tales we have in our culture. I mean, I can bet any Indian knows at least five different, and thouroughly entertaining stories which can be made into great films. Still, we have to haplessly fed with the same drivel of the so-called 'popular cinema', which turns out to be nothing more than a rehashed version of Romeo and Juliet time and again. Woe. Chinese filmmakers, like Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee, who come from a culture that has probably as many legends and stories as us Indians, seem to have realised this and have come up with such modern masterpieces like Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Hall of Flying Daggers. Here's hoping that Palekar awakens some sense into our filmmakers.
Batman Begins was quite entertaining too. I actually felt the dark feel of the original comics. I have been a Batman fan since my early schooldays, when I made a massive scarbook out of the Batman newspaper strips that used to appear in the Deccan Herald. Old familair villains are a huge hit with me. What I liked best about this Batman movie was the music. Really kept me at the edge of my seat at times.
Ram Gopal Varmaji, kudos to you. You are one of the few Indian directors who has been consistently quenching my thirst for watching great films. Sarkar is, to use the colloquial Mumbaiyya, a 'mast' movie. It borrows heavily from The Godfather by way of plot, but the portrayal of Subhash Nagre by the Big B is in a class of its own. Taliyaan !
I watched this old Japanese film called 'The Hidden Fortress' by Kurosawa yesterday. When I say old, it's purely in a chronological sense, the spirit and raw energy of the movie is as fresh as ever. Unfortunately, this movie is known for being the film which inspired George Lucas to make his cult epic Star Wars. I say unfortunately because to me, what makes this film stand out as one of the greatest motion pictures of all time is the sheer pace of the story. True, we see imeediately where R2D2 and C-3PO have come from. We also get the general idea behind a rebel princess, which features both in A New Hope, and The Phantom Menace. But what Jedi can compare with Toshiro Mifune's portrayal of the Samurai legend Rokurota Makabe ?
Hey, I picked up this book called 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' by Lynn Truss a while back. Yesterday, I bought a parody of the book, amusingly titled 'Eats, Shites and Leaves' by Antal Parody. I'm halfway through it and it's pretty funny. It's about various techniques to write better english.
The rains are on in a big way here in Pune. And, predictably, the first thing to go were the roads. I am going to try and post some pictures of the post-rain Pune roads on this blog when I have the time. More horrific than a John Carpenter film, they are sure to send shivers down the viewers' spine.
On the film front, there has been some pretty interesting stuff happening lately.
I enjoyed watching Amol Palekar's Paheli. Seriously, I wonder how filmmakers in India are starved for new stories, what the glorious heritage of folk tales we have in our culture. I mean, I can bet any Indian knows at least five different, and thouroughly entertaining stories which can be made into great films. Still, we have to haplessly fed with the same drivel of the so-called 'popular cinema', which turns out to be nothing more than a rehashed version of Romeo and Juliet time and again. Woe. Chinese filmmakers, like Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee, who come from a culture that has probably as many legends and stories as us Indians, seem to have realised this and have come up with such modern masterpieces like Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Hall of Flying Daggers. Here's hoping that Palekar awakens some sense into our filmmakers.
Batman Begins was quite entertaining too. I actually felt the dark feel of the original comics. I have been a Batman fan since my early schooldays, when I made a massive scarbook out of the Batman newspaper strips that used to appear in the Deccan Herald. Old familair villains are a huge hit with me. What I liked best about this Batman movie was the music. Really kept me at the edge of my seat at times.
Ram Gopal Varmaji, kudos to you. You are one of the few Indian directors who has been consistently quenching my thirst for watching great films. Sarkar is, to use the colloquial Mumbaiyya, a 'mast' movie. It borrows heavily from The Godfather by way of plot, but the portrayal of Subhash Nagre by the Big B is in a class of its own. Taliyaan !
I watched this old Japanese film called 'The Hidden Fortress' by Kurosawa yesterday. When I say old, it's purely in a chronological sense, the spirit and raw energy of the movie is as fresh as ever. Unfortunately, this movie is known for being the film which inspired George Lucas to make his cult epic Star Wars. I say unfortunately because to me, what makes this film stand out as one of the greatest motion pictures of all time is the sheer pace of the story. True, we see imeediately where R2D2 and C-3PO have come from. We also get the general idea behind a rebel princess, which features both in A New Hope, and The Phantom Menace. But what Jedi can compare with Toshiro Mifune's portrayal of the Samurai legend Rokurota Makabe ?
Hey, I picked up this book called 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' by Lynn Truss a while back. Yesterday, I bought a parody of the book, amusingly titled 'Eats, Shites and Leaves' by Antal Parody. I'm halfway through it and it's pretty funny. It's about various techniques to write better english.
| Permalink | 
