It is a pity that Qawwali has become almost extinct even as Gazhal thrives. In a way it is understandable, compared to Qawwali, Gazhal is safer because of its melody. On the other hand, there are high chances of botching up a Qawali. However if done right Qawali is eclectic, in fact, and I assure you, it will definitely give you goosebumps.
Now that we are done with obligatory preface, to my only readers I present.
Here is an admission. Frogji's comments on my earlier post have kind of perplexed me. He asked why language in bollywood cinema so infused with Urdu. This was news to me. Assuming he is talking about contemporary bollywood cinema, its language is that its audience is most comfortable with, i.e. Hindi/Hindustani. Urdu ceased to be a language of cinema long ago, and since use of Sanskritized Hindi was never widespread it is hardly an option.
Then it struck me that the reason why our observations are so divergent has to do with our experience. Frogji not hailing from Hindi heartland is obviously not familiar with Hindi the way it is spoken there. Therefore it makes sense to make explicit my reference point, which is the video embedded below. This is what I will consider Urdu infused language.
A note here, this too is relative. For my father's generation which actually could read and write Urdu this video won't be very difficult to understand.
Some more ideas for movies
# Epic based on battle of the ten kings
# Comics based on Ashwathama titled Immortals. Guest appearance by Bhagwan Hanuman.
# Historical fiction based on the only Yadava warrior to survive destruction of Dwarka, who fights in Trojan War.
Yes, I have nothing to write about.
Spoilers
Having watched Watchmen some time ago, the review I criticized in an earlier post seems even more misplaced now than it seemed at that time. Anyway I don't like the movie, which means less than nothing considering I didn't like Godfather or 2001: A Space Odyssey for that matter. I have some standard to maintain after all. Now it has something to do with the fact that I haven't read Watchmen the graphic novel by Alan Moore, which is held by many comics aficionados to be a ground breaking work of its genre.However it is generally understood that any adaptation has to strike a balance between appealing to the following of original work by staying true to it and bringing in audience not introduced with the work. While Zack Snyder is faithfully to the novel he fails to hold the attention of larger audience, which in my view irrevocably dooms this thinking man's superhero movie.
First of movie's short coming is Snyder slavish adherence to the text while failing to capture of the essence of the novel. Reminiscent of his earlier adaptation of Frank Miller's 300, he copies almost the novel panel by panel. However in doing that he fails to effectively capture the dystopian theme of the novel, the story of watchmen being secondary and in effect enforcing this narrative. Instead the movie is slow and feels dragging on forever. Even the visuals disappoint, failing to impart a gritty, noirish feel, done admirably in dark knight for instance.
However for me the main shortcoming is the novel itself. The novel written during the tense period of cold war is itself outdated having US as the clear winner. This is however least of its problems.
The novel for most part is nothing but a parade of American liberal cliches and bogeymen. The novels depicts Nixon as President having abrogated the term limits, and it is implied, subverted the institutions, effectively dictator of US.
Now it is not my case that Nixon was a honorable man, for he was not, but as cynical as it may sound, his greatest crime was not Watergate but hostility to media, resulting from fear psychosis. Watergate while not exactly something which will commend Nixon to posterity, was hardly a deviation as far as political skulduggery is concerned, similar practices being regularly employed from Johnson administration going as far as back to FDR.
Similarly Nixon didn't harbor any ambition of abrogating term limits and anointed Caesar, that dishonor ironically belongs to liberal Messiah predating the current Messiah, FDR, ironically it was only due to his breaking the convention of two terms that term limits were introduced.
To add to this, it is implied that JFK's assassination was a government's conspiracy, the right wing elements within the government being the perpeterators. Of course the inconvenient truth is that JFK was felled, as Jackie Kennedy frustratingly remarked, by a silly little communist.
Most infuriating however is the moral ambivalence. US for all its flaws has been a force for good in contrast to Communist regimes which have perpetrated immeasurable misery and death. It is clear for all its self righteousness, left uses liberty in much the same sense as it uses fascism.
Jail . Anyone wants to place bets on the movie having anal rape.
Update: And why such an epidemic of movies which are about Delhi. Can't they find some other place than the absolutely worthless city.
Yet Another Update: You know what can rescue now setting carrier of Sunny Deol, remake of Last Action Hero . No I don't particularly like him but Shabani Azmi is a secular hag so there.
I just found out that this blog has crossed hundred feed subscribers for the first time. Assuming the figure is correct (and goat lover assures me it is correct), what exactly is wrong with so many people.
Anyhow as long as someone is reading this blog, here is my latest brainwave. A hapless husband frustrated with the endless barrage of repetitive soaps embarks on a journey determined to stamp out the source for this poison, however the journey leads him to the horrifying truth, that daily overdose of Saas-bahu saga is a conspiracy hatched by Ekta Kapoor, ChiComs and our bothers across the border to cause permanent damage to Indians and conquer India by subterfuge.
All those who wish to finance this venture, please stand orderly in a queue.
Which book(s) you will like to see on screen.
My preferences
1. Starship Troopers [1].
2. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress .
3. 1984 [2].
4. Chandrakanta & Chandrakanta Santati [3]
5. Gora.[4]
[1] Yes Paul Verhoeven made one , without reading the novel and gave movie a fascists bent. I want Indian characters to be included with Shahid Kapoor playing Rico .
[2] Adapted to India, the background being that Indira Gandhi never lifted emergency. Now most of you kids might not know, but Indira Gandhi lifted emergency because she was convinced she will win the elections, and not because of any pressure. Or so I have read somewhere.
[3] I know the serial sucked big time, but trust me, the novel is better.
[4] Captures history of early 20th century Bengal much better Devdas or Parineeta.
... but why exactly are Indians celebrating for SDM ?
Update: Look, I haven't seen the movie so I have no idea that it is in fact poverty porn, but in case of westerners depicting India, I always assume guilty until proven innocent, not very enlightened I agree, but I can not forget Temple of Doom or City of Joy , so easily. Also please don't praise this film for realism and at the same time excuse over the top portrayal (Jamal running through excreta, what is this Trainspotting !) by saying "but it is just a film"
Update 1 : Arghhh, I don't want to comment on it anymore, but gross stupidity like this compel me otherwise. It is as if there is some guideline to cram as much triteness as possible (real India, spirit of Mumbai). All right here is the thing, I am not a big fan of realistic or art cinema, watching the trials and tribulations of life is too taxing for me to enjoy as cinema especially after working for a week, Govinda is good enough for me, thank you very much. Now if someone does enjoy realistic cinema, I have no problem. What I have problem reducing reality to cliche of authenticity. Dharavi is real, so is Nariman Point, or Malabar Hills, or Dadar, or Ghatkopar, just because someone doesn't live in slums doesn't make him or her phony, inauthentic, a ghost, there is more to India or Mumbai than what the clique of compulsive compassion imagines.Still, poverty and slums are parts of reality and I don't object to the portrayal per se. Problem arises when this kind of cinema becomes launching pad for a thousand sanctimonious sermons on Indians should be doing more for poverty alleviation, often delivered by glib morons who have hardly ever done anything in life for poor. This in effect trivializes serious issue of poverty to a object to massage bloated egos of self righteous conceited class and derive visceral pleasure by shaming the public at large. While this gratifies the chattering class, this kind of preening pontification does nothing to further objective of poverty alleviation, in fact these kind of tactics just alienate people by breeding resentment.
Update 2: Prasannaji is miffed that Congress is claiming credit for Oscars . With due respect to him, I don't see what the big fuss is all about. Without Congress rule for 50 years we won't be having any slums and therefore no Slumdog, so yes Congress does deserve the credit for Oscars. After all without poverty where will pimps of poverty be.
All right, reading this I was once again afraid that the cheap bastards of Bollywood were once again reading my thoughts , but then a little bit of googling brought me to this, which means that atleast that the team was inspired by real events and were not messing around with my awesome brain.
Which brings me to the point, if you have to make a film about serial killers why not directly go to the most bizarre i.e. Raghav. Better known as Aakda maar (or Kanpati mar, according to overlord in the comment), he went on a rampage in 60's mostly killing poor slum dwellers. Finally, he was apprehended on Ganesh Visarjan, but was sentenced to life imprisonment as he was found mentally unfit (I believe he claimed that Surya commanded him to murder). This incidentally was one of my many ideas for a film. And now, it is gone.
PS. Why stop at Stoneman though, what about kaccha baniyan gang ?
Update: Hell, why should only Bollywood benefit from my awesomeness, even Hollywood deserves some benefaction. Here is one, film on Duke Lacrosse controversy .
Another Update: There is an idea for a Facebook Application, "Which famous serial killer are you". Seriously these stupid applications are, well, killing.
Yet Another Update: Let me confess here, I think Hannibal as enacted by Anthony Hopkins is kind of overrated.
You know what will be cool. Re-writing Dune with Sikh history. Muad'Dib can be replaced by character based on Guru Gobind Singh, Fremens can be recast as Khalsa, Duke Leto Atreides I will then be Guru Teg Bahadur Singh and Baron Vladimir Harkonnen will be Aurangzeb
Here I bemoan the lack of credit given to Mars attacks! for its subversive criticism of liberal pacifism.
Peter Berg, not content with destroying the brilliant premise of Hancock , is all set to destroy Dune , a work which even David Lynch couldn't handle.
Note to Bhagwan, not that I wish to sound too pushy, but now will be the right time for Pralay.
Most probably GB didn't mean it this way, but the introduction to his review of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is in incredibly bad taste. Now I am not taking away the right of atheists (who infest the blogosphere) to mock or ridicule God. Nor I do object to anyone criticizing any Shahrukh Khan starrer (though for the record, I found the movie paisa wasool, but then I don't exactly watch movie for layers of existential angst). Having said that it is very petty and unbecoming for using victims of Mumbai terror attacks as prop for flogging your pet peeve against "Big Guy in the sky", or against Yash Chopra. If someone finds faith and mush intolerable, then fine whatever, but please don't exploit tragedy to launch your contempt and disdain. There is something called perspective and simple decency, you know.
Q. What is the height of optimism.
A. Goldie Behl giving open ending to Drona , supposedly for sequel. You can all ROTFLMAO now.
PS. I was thinking of going to Welcome to Sajjanpur , but thanks to goat lover , I am not going to go near it.
Meaningful cinema ! What will I even do with it. I want escape, at escape velocity no less.
PPS. Ritwik would have called it reverse snobbery, and he would have been right.
Finally it is here! Trailer below.
PS. It better be good. I hope it kicks Bourne Series and Sin City ass.
Update: Why Wahlberg though, he is eye candy. I think it would have been more appropriate to have some brooding type, may be this guy.
1. At risk of horrifying some of you, I have to admit that I haven never watched Seinfeld before, and while I have just begun watching it, I *gasp* prefer general optimism of Friends over nihilism of Seinfeld.
2. I haven't seen Gone with the wind, or Casablanca, even though I have them on my hard disk since last year. Meanwhile I have gone and seen complete season of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I don't regret it either.
3. I was underwhelmed with Shawshank Redemption. Still it was better than in case of Forrest Gump, which I found annoyingly cloying. Also Tom Hanks looks kind of retarded.
From Kill Bill 2. Personally speaking I always preferred the second part to the first one. While first one had the stylized action sequences suitably aided by anachronistic narration (a standard Tarantino device),the second one was preferable because first the story was much more substantial and second the way change of pace in narration was handled.
Sadly for me, Hostel turned me off to a degree that I can not muster the courage to watch Grindhouse.
Reg. The Dark Knight
1. I liked it.
2. Having said that, it could have been shorter.
3. And what's this obsession with two villains. Why can't they stick to a single one. There was no time to savour Two face, a villain as fascinating as Joker.
4. I have always believed that Batman should be noir. While those helmed by Tim Burton were dark, noir element was weak. This movie manages to introduce noir and handle it.
5. I believe it has been suggested by smart pants that Batman is merely a prop, to highlight, more interesting, antagonists. They are certainly right.
6. Christian Bale is good as Batman, but movie belongs to Heath Ledger. As Joker he is menacing. He is a serious contender for Oscar. But I have a soft corner for the way Jack Nicholson infused sheer mania in the character.
7. Question. Who is your favourite villain ?
I left the theater when the credits started rolling missing Samuel. L. Jackson as a result, which is a shame, as I am unabashedly Jacksonian.
That aside I don't what to say about movie, not havin read Iron man, I was not connected to the franchise, that way movie does a commendable job of introducing protagonist Tony Stark and following development of his alter ego.
Robert Downey Jr fits the role to T. His flamboyance and swagger reminds you of Captain Jack Sparrow. Actions sequences are flawlessly and never fail to induce thrill and rush.
Having said that, I didn't find the story engaging, there was a lack of coherence possibly due to introduction of political angle in form of military industrial complex, further in attempting to explain the back story the pace gets bogged down, which was a major distraction.
I must confess here, I am not a big fan of superhero genre, the only movies I genuinely liked being Spider-Man, and Batman . I was bored to death by X Men franchise, Fantastic Four etc, though I felt that Superman Returns and (surprisingly) Hellboy were passably good
