CHANGE IS GOOD

I have been thinking for a long time about my blogging journey. It started out as a blog where I was confused with what I had to write until the time I finally got some proper direction. I named it out of my love for movies but now I have realized that under the movie title of my blog I have written various other things too which include posts on books, short stories, some other gyaan, etc. At the end it was all about a good story.

Whatever things that I have written or gonna write would always focus on a story - posts on movies, short fictions, fictional biographies or rendezvous. So it would always be about entertainment.

So my friends I am going to change the TITLE of my blog but my BLOG ADDRESS would remain the same. I see the coming Eid as a good day for this change, so my I'll flash out my new title from 20th August, 2012.

Pyaasa : A Timeless Classic

Pyaasa is a 1957 film, directed by Guru Dutt who also produced and starred in it. It was written by Abrar Alvi. It is a movie which can be enjoyed by anyone who appreciates good cinema. The film was rated as one of the 100 best films of all time by the Times magazine. Hats off to Guru Dutt on this film. One can see the genius in him who made proper use of camera angles and sets to give out the themes and mood settings very well.

The story is about a fallen poet, Vijay or rather a 'never risen poet' who struggles to achieve a life for himself during the early post Independence period. The poet represents the country on the whole through his conditions.  He is shunned by his brothers who think of him as a jobless, wasted guy who will never achieve anything in life.
           
            One day, Vijay comes to know that his brothers have sold his poems as scrap, this enrages him, he tries to find his poems but it’s all in vain.  Finally one night, he hears a woman singing his tunes, following her he reaches the red light area and asks her about the poems. The woman, Gulabo, a prostitute at first thinks of him as a jerk and throws him out. Later she comes to know he is the same poet whose poems she has, she tries to find him but he is gone.

The story continues forward when a series of events puts him together with his past love but she has married someone else by now. Her husband tries to exploit Vijay by employing him as a servant. Thus it is somehow evident that fate has it all set against Vijay and he will never succeed.

It is through all these events that luck finally smiles on Vijay but in its own twisted way. The story takes an unusual turn. The poet once neglected suddenly becomes wanted. The poems which failed to make any mark earlier are now anthems. It is the death of the artist that creates a life for him.

Miraculously Vijay is alive, away from the world he is in a mental institution. The people who grieved for his death and have made profit out of it don’t want him back. They even refuse to recognize him. Luckily with the help of a friend, he manages his way out and tries to prove his existence. People who earlier refused to recognize him now join him back again out of their greed, these people include his own brothers and friends.

After achieving all that he wanted throughout his life, Vijay still lacks something, now this life seems hollow. When the world which shunned him before is ready to fall at his feet he decides to go away. It’s very ironic; that he strived hard for praise and recognition and now when he has it he doesn’t want it.

            The movie has been written very well, the characters were developed in a proper way. The main highlights were the poems which were included in the appropriate scenes. The lyrics of the songs went well with the situations.

            The dialogues are good; one could easily find the dominance of Urdu words in the films of those times, which added beauty to the dialogues.

 
Overall a good movie. A must watch for all the film buffs and cinema lovers. It’s a ride through the early Post-Independence society of India which tells a lot about the country.

The Boondock Saints

I hope no one has forgotten me by now. Its been a long time since I have posted something. I am so sorry for not being able to read your wonderful blogs and for not being able to provide you with something worth reading.

Here in this post I would be talking about The Boondock Saints. This movie is one of my favorite crime/action thrillers. It follows the story of two Irish brothers, Connor McManus(Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy McManus (Norman Reedus).

The story starts with the two brothers attending Mass at the church and then going off to live their normal life. While they are celebrating at their usual pub, they run into trouble with some people from the Russian Mafia. The brothers try to settle out peacefully but things don't go smooth and the brothers end up thrashing and humiliating those people. The next morning when the Mafia people are back for their revenge, the brothers accidentally kill them in self defense.

FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe) is assigned to the case. One can clearly see in the film that this man is gifted in detection of crimes. Just by looking at the crime scene he can visualize the crime which must have happened there. By this time, the locals consider the brothers as heroes for killing those bad guys. Just when Smecker is working out on a plan to catch them, the brothers turn themselves in and accept their crime. But Smecker develops a good rapport with the boys and frees them but for their safety and to avoid media he asks them to spend the night in the holding cell.

At that night in the holding cell, the brothers experience an epiphany where they get a calling from God to destroy all wicked persons and prosper the innocents. Thus they manage enough ammunition and other useful things and start out their war against the wicked people. With their unique trademark of putting coins on the eyes of their victims after killing them, as if to pay the toll to cross the River Styx.

In their journey they are joined by a friend who on learning that his boss, a member of a crime family has sold him, vows revenge. And Smecker on the other hand who believes at first that the murders are a result of some mob war, begins to search for the true killers. Also in there is one Il Duce ("The Duke"), a dangerous man, the Mafia brings out to find and kill the brothers.

A good film with a good story and proper execution. The story takes us in completely. Inspite of meeting with poor critical reviews upon release, the film has grossed about $50 million in domestic video and has developed a large cult following over the years.  A sequel named The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day which takes the story forward as well as goes deeper in the mysterious life of their father, whom they meet towards the end of the original movie was released in 2009.

Adaptation - Adapting Yourself In Your Story

I hope you suffer from WRITER'S BLOCK !!
Well this is the worst curse that you can give to any one of us, at least to me you can. Ever imagined what happens when a person who makes his living out of words is not able to write?

Adaptation released in 2002 was one great movie depicting all the kinds of hardship a screenwriter can face. The film was directed by Spike Jonze. It was written by Charlie Kaufman. Kaufman has written something which I think no one can even attempt or even if anyone does, it sure as hell won't be up to these movie's standards. I think many of you must have seen it and I doubt if there is anyone who didn't like it.

This time I won't be telling you about the plot, instead I would like to describe the conditions under which it was written and then its execution.

Susan Orlean, a  famous American journalist had written a book "The Orchid Thief" on her investigation of John Laroche's arrest in 1994. The book was then tried to adapt into a movie with Charlie Kaufman hired to write a screenplay based on it. A book based on flowers had a little scope of turning into a fine successful movie. Kaufman realized it soon but he could not complain. He tried hard but a good acceptable draft never came out. He soon drowned into depression and the dreaded writer's block hit him. Things got worse then ever. It was in these frustration that he got a novel idea and started to work on it. Now this was the most stupid thing anyone could do but he went ahead and wrote the script keeping himself as a "character trying to attempt to convert the book into screenplay." He wrote his heavily fictionalized character which was also named Charlie Kaufman, he gave himself a fictional twin brother, Donald Kaufman.

Nicolas Cage playing Charlie and Donald Kaufman.

Charlie Kaufman fictionalized the lives of Susan Orlean and John Laroche and brought them into his script as the antagonists. Thus a script was formed which showed "Charlie Kaufman trying to adapt Susan Orlean's book into a screenplay.." In the story to help him write, he created the character of Donald Kaufman, who is his twin brother and helps him to adapt the book into a screenplay.

Now a film needs a plot, a story rather then just showing a writer trying to write a screenplay, there has to be something more. Then Susan Orlean and John Laroche's characters had to be turned bad. They are shown involved in making drugs from plants. Thus it is up to Charlie and his brother that while writing the script, they have to stop and expose them.

An awesome movie with an incredible plot. And to stick to the story,  the film makers even credited Donald Kaufman (in spite of being a fictional character) as the co-writer with Charlie Kaufman. And the fictional character also was nominated for a Golden Globe and Academy Awards. My personal favorite and something which never bores you when you watch it.

The Seventh Seal - Can You Cheat Death?

Released in 1957, The Seventh Seal (original title Det Sjunde Inseglet ), a Swedish film is worth a watch. Directed by Ingmar Bergman, a brilliant director, the film was based on a play written by himself for the acting students.

The film starts with two men returning to Sweden after fighting in the crusades. The  knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) and his squire Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand) seem to be good and brave people. Antonius Block is a clever chess player and is very intelligent. One day while they are resting, Antonius as usual starts to play chess alone. It is there that he encounters Death. Death(Bengt Ekerot) is dressed in black cowl and has a monk like appearance. Antonius is unafraid of dying but he still has some unanswered questions about life and wants to seek their answers before he can die. He somehow thinks that if he can challenge Death into playing chess with him, he can delay his death. Death agrees and thus the great game starts.

Also in the film are many characters who somehow get connected to Antonius Block and Jöns as they continue their journey ahead. Death keeps appearing in middle to play its chance and then goes off.

Nomadic actors , Jof (Nils Poppe) and his wife Mia (Bibi Andersson), with their baby son, Mikael, and their actor-manager, Skat(Erik Strandmark), who perform from village to village join Antonius on his way. Skat during a particular show charms a black smith wife and manages to run away with her. The blacksmith joins the Antonius and actors only to find his wife returning to him and Skat tricking him and running away.

The fate of these people now is in the hands of Antonius now, as the visits of Death are increasing and at the same time Antonius knows he cannot defeat it. The movie continues further with the journey of these group of people as they go to Antonius' castle to be safe from the plague which is spreading and people are dying like insects. Antonius knows the plague sooner or later will take their life by coming in the form of Death.

In spite of Death cheating Antonius to give out his strategy , Antonius manages to stay in the game and later cheats once. Things like Antonius quests for finding the truth of life, the actor Jof's strange visions, a woman who is to be burnt as she is accused of being a witch, the Dance of Death at the end, etc enrich the film's story.

A completely awesome movie where language forms no barrier, is certainly a movie which I would recommend as a must watch for you all mortals who are reading this.

Kane and Abel : Novel and TV mini-series

One more of my posts on an adaptation of my favorite novel. Jeffrey Archer is one of the best authors the world has ever seen. The stories he writes are something which are only exclusive to him. There is no one in the world to match his unique style. One of my favorite books by him is Kane and Abel.
The novel revolves around the life of two men, William Kane and Abel Rosnovski.

The two men have nothing in common except that they are born on the same day in the early 19th century and they both want to succeed. William is born in the United States while Abel is born as Wladek Koskiewicz in Poland under great poverty and hardships. William is inspired by his father, chairman of Kane and Cabot Bank and plans to be a great banker someday. Whereas Abel under poverty struggles to find a living and education.

The First World War changes Abel's life and after an invasion of Germans and Russians into Poland, Abel has no option but to flee. He goes to a numerous places before getting an opportunity to go in the United States. There he starts his struggle to survive taking up odd jobs before becoming a waiter. His journey from being a waiter to manager of a hotel and being an owner of large chain of hotels is depicted in a great and inspiring way.

While Abel makes his life in Poland and escapes to United States, William is no less. He is extraordinarily intelligent in mathematics and has deep rooted sense of right business tactics. He grows up enduring his father tragic death in The Titanic, studies hard to get into Harvard. Life is not easy for him too, his mother remarries another man, Henry Osborne(David Osborne in the TV series) who turns out to be a gold digger and just exploits his mother's wealth. His mother too dies shortly after period of tensions and mental frustrations. William after completing his education gets on the board of his father's great bank with his genius and plans one day to be the chairman just like his father was.

The stories of these two great men go parallel until one day when Abel, the manager of a big group of hotels has to deal with Kane, one of the directors of bank regarding the loans of Abel's employer, David Leroy. Kane appears as expected of him(in a professional way) which angers Abel. Also during this Leroy commits suicide which triggers Abel's anger towards Kane to a great extent. Abel wows to destroy Kane and thus a great rivalry starts. Each one leaves no stone unturned in destroying each other and fight for the next three decades of their lives.

The book and the TV miniseries (of 3 episodes) based on the book shows us this great story well. A story spanning for 6 decades(right from birth till the end of the men) is something everyone should see, enjoy and feel.

Nosferatu : A Symphony of Horror

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, a German film released in 1922 was an epic movie. It was directed by F.W. Murnau and it's screenplay was written by Henrik Galeen. It was roughly based on Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Nosferatu tells us the story of Count Orlok, the evil creature.
The protagonist Hutter lives with his wife Ellen in the fictitious German city of Wisborg. Hutter's employer, Knock sends him to to Transylvania to visit a new client named Count Orlok, who is interested in buying a property in Wisborg from Hutter's office.

Things go fine till then. Hutter soon leaves for Transylvania and then the real trouble starts. A small inn near Transylvania where Hutter stops for dinner is the turning point in the film where just by the mere mention of Orlok's name the locals get scared. But that does not discourage Hutter. Next day after finally overcoming the obstacles, Hutter reaches the castle of Count Orlok. He reaches there by night where Count Orlok himself welcomes him.

While having dinner at the place Hutter accidentally cuts his finger and Orlok looking at it, finds himself unable to resist.  Orlok even attempts to suck the blood but Hutter pushes him away. Orlok offers him a seat where Hutter sleeps. The next morning Hutter gets up alone and enjoys his time around the castle

That night while signing the necessary documents Orlok happens to see a picture of Ellen. He praises her with his words "has a lovely neck" which makes Hutter uneasy.

Along all this events there is this book, Book Of Vampyres which Hutter had found. He begins to read and slowly starts to suspect that Orlock is Nosferatu, the "Bird Of Death". At that night when Hutter looks outside the door, he sees Orlok at the hallway looming. Hutter unsuccessfully tries to close the door and hide but Orlok comes in.

At the very same moment Ellen who has been missing her husband and worrying about him gets a bad feeling. She cries, which Orlok hears inexplicably. He leaves Hutter and sets out a journey to Wisborg to get her. Thus Hutter runs behind him too to save her.

Now who will reach Wisborg first? Will Hutter be able to save his wife? What will be Orlok's end like? What is the strange plague that Orlok is spreading through the rats?
Find your answers in this great movie which in spite of being a silent film speaks highly when you watch it.