Monday, June 4, 2012
Friday, October 7, 2011
My Five
Hamlet
Laurence Oliver
"To be or not to be”, a popular quotation used widely by all is taken from the play ‘Hamlet’ written by William Shakespeare. People who patronize literature know the value of this play and it is undoubtedly one of the best plays of Shakespeare. Hamlet (1948), movie adopted from the play was directed and acted by one of the best known actors of British Cinema Laurence Oliver. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark finds out that his own Uncle Claudius has killed his father and takes revenge upon his uncle who has been throned as the new king of Denmark. Realising the fact that his own mother Gertrude has been involved in this mysterious murder, Hamlet is pushed into procrastination. The movie received several accolades including the honour of being the first British movie to win the Academy Awards for Best Picture. The casting in the movie had been praised by critics and till now amidst numerous screen adoptions of this play, Hamlet directed by Laurence Oliver stands out as the best.
J.Lee Thompson
I was never a big fan of Western movies but after watching Mackenna’s Gold, Western genres invaded my Heart and that is mainly because of the stupendous acting shown by both actors Greogory Peck and Omar Sharif. Greogory Peck who belongs to the school of method acting once again proved why he was one of the most wanted actors during his times through his flawless acting. Mackenna’s Gold is about an expedition by a group who goes in search of the Mountain of Gold which is believed to be protected by the Apache spirits. The movie was hailed for Thompson’s narrative technique and also for its cinematography. Quincy Jones who composed the soundtrack for this movie was widely appreciated for his efforts.
Vittorio De Sica
Bicycle Thieves (1948), is one of the best movies ever made should I say. Directed by noted Italian director Vittoria De Sica,’ Bicycle thieves’ centres around a cycle interesting woven well with the political situation in Europe. A poor unemployed man’s attempt to search his lost bicycle for survival is what the movie tells us. The movie was an exact portrayal of economic instability in Italy during the time of World War and it also identifies the poor people as the victims of Wars. Lead actors have shown some tremendous amount of acting to elevate the plot.
The Passion of the Christ
Mel Gibson
Rear Window
Alfred Hitchcock
Rear Window directed by the prominent director Hitchcock, and acted out by the admirable actor James Stewart became a huge hit in 1950’s. ‘Rear Window’ is about a professional photographer who broke his leg in an accident is confined in an apartment and also bound by a wheel chair investigates a murder in his apartment by observing the events through his lenses. James Stewart’s brilliant acting skills help the movie to travel in steady pace without any interruption. It is definitely one of the best suspense films from the master of suspense. Grace Kelly plays the love interest of James Stewart also helps to unravel the mystery towards the end.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Quotes on Women
The other day I was browsing through few interesting quotes and I just want it to be posted on my blog and here they are:
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."
-William Shakespeare
Women are made to be loved, not understood.
-Oscar Wilde
"I see when men love women. They give them but a little of their lives. But women when they love give everything." -Oscar Wilde
"I have thought a sufficient measure of civilization is the influence of good women."
-R.W.Emerson
"A cigarette is the only consumer product which when used as directed kills its consumer."
-Unknown
"To win in life,don't fear in life" -Unknown
Superstar India- Shobhaa De
Book Title: Superstar India
Author : Shobhaa De
(Non-Fiction )
Shobhaa De’s ‘Superstar India’, is a book which can be or rather ‘should’ be read by all Indians at all times, it is more than a book about India. For some of them out there who still think it is a fiction let me ignite a fact that it ain’t any fiction. It is about India, it’s about ‘us; ‘Superstar India’ takes a dig at everything about our ‘Indianess’. The book simply questions our age old traditions and questions our own commitment and sincerity towards our customs and traditions which we have been preserving for centuries.
Narrative Style:
It is really nice to read Shoba’s free flow of thoughts being poured in the pages in a unique narrative style. She touches about everything which is bothering our society and she also tells how our India’s newly acquired status is creating vibes in the Western world. What she constantly mentions in this book is about the reluctant younger generation, unwilling to learn anything from our tradition but instead mindlessly follow the Western culture and their way of living. The fact of the matter is we are still obsessed with the Westernized lifestyle.
What is so surprising in the book is that the writer unhesitatingly has touched upon certain controversial ideologies, sensitive matters and of course lots of minuscule things, for example in the book she talks about how she hates to be addressed as ‘Mrs’. She hates men introducing their wives as ’My Mrs’ instead of their names, she calls it that embarrassing.
She talks about how a middle class family had to shed out a lump amount in cine multiplexes, few bold statements about UP Chief Minister Mayawati is more than enough how well the writer is well-versed in political theories. Generally, in India age old traditions, customs and rituals are passed over to the children from the parents, so that it never dies but Shoabhaa confesses her failure to learn anything from her parents and its dead and gone with them. I sincerely do not know what to talk and what not to talk about this book because it has so many issues Shobha has meticulously covered; in fact some of the stories are really astonishing and can be enjoyed only when it is read rather than it is told.
This is one of the very few books we have seen in recent times that analyses our deepest sentiments in a much broader way. It’s a great book to read, I strongly recommend everybody to get hold of this wonderful book and plunge into this priceless adventure.
INCENDIES (2010)
DVD-PICK
Incendies(2010), is a French-Arabic movie directed by Denis Villeneuve gained much appreciation for its excellent plot, well crafted screenplay and some amazing performance by the leading actors. The movie is based on a play called Incendies by Wajdi Mouwad.
PLOT
Nawan Marwan (Luban Azabal), the mother of Jeanne (Mellisa Poulin) and Simon hand over two letters and a surprisingly unique will to her lawyer for whom she worked as a secretary before her death. The mother expects nothing from her children but to find their father and brother. The twins are shocked when the letters are given to them, because the will of her mother is quite different from an ordinary one. The letters are supposed to be handed over to their father and brother, but before them lay a tough task of finding them in a foreign country. Jeanne decides to search her father and brother in Middle East, whereas her brother stays back in Canada but soon joins her. The story moves rather slowly than expected but without losing its track it peaks well at the right moments sensing the pulse of the audience, hats off to the director for a well stitched screen-play. The movie fluctuates from past to present to show the war atrocities in the name of religion only helps the director to tell about the sufferings of young Nawan and the war atrocities in the name of religion. As the story slowly unravels before us, we head to a shocking revelation, something which we can’t expect in an Indian movie. The movie was well received by the critics and bagged several international awards but sadly missed the Oscars. For a movie despite a strong story line losing in prestigious events like Oscars certainly gives us a mixed feeling, and even occasionally makes me to question the credentials of Academy Awards. Nevertheless the movie scored well with the audience which is I think more important than anything else.
Bottomline: A heart rending master piece which should’nt be missed out.
Of Gods and Men
Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux) 2010, is a French movie directed by Xavier Beauvois. It is about a bunch of Trappist Monks at an Algerian monastery threatened by Islamic terrorists. The movie received several accolades when it was released and more importantly this movie is said to be based on a true unpleasant events in 1995.
Obscenity
Obscenity in lyrics few decades back was considered a taboo, but now things have changed drastically nobody actually cares about it. As far as Indian movies are concerned, songs are not just ‘songs’-they depict our culture seriously. Ever since we entered into the world of celluloid, songs have been playing a crucial part and there can’t be any denial. Most of the lyrics are not obscene but few are, they are either covert or requires certain amount of maturity to comprehend the real intentions of lyricists. Indian culture has accepted certain elements, only when people accepted minimal obscenity, lyricists started to lurk.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Repulsion-Timeless Classic
Repulsion (1965) is a psychological thriller movie directed by noted director Roman Polanski. The movie gained critical acclamation for its narrative style and it is still considered as one the best movies under the thriller genre.
Plot:
Carol (Catherine Deneuve) is a young and good looking lady who works in nail salon in London has a strange phobia called androphobia. People who suffer from androphobia generally fear the presence of men; they avoid any sort of interaction with men. Carol is closely attached to her sister Helen (Yvonne Furneaux) and stays with her but hates her sister for her relationship with a married person. James Frazer as Colin comes as a boyfriend to Carol but finds it hard to cope with her because of her abnormal behaviour. Carol behaviour turns worse only when Helen and her boyfriend leave on a holiday to Italy. Her psychosis turns very bad and she totally withdraws herself from the real world. Frustrated by her behaviour Colin tries to call her upon in her house but she refuses to open the door, not knowing what to do Colin breaks open the door but eventually gets killed by her, she then dumps the body in the bathtub. While Carol’s hallucinations take a dead turn, the landlord of the house meets her only to get killed. Unaware of the all these happenings Carol’s sister reaches London with her boyfriend only to witness two dead bodies lying in her apartment, while her sister suffers from schizophrenia.
The movie was highly praised by the critics and was also nominated for several awards including BAFTA. Every character in the movie was neatly crafted and the performances of the actors were quite remarkable, especially that of Catherine Deneuve with her stunning looks delivered an unmatched performance and gained several accolades for her role.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Turn of the decade
As we are all eagerly looking forward in welcoming the brand new year, one should not also forget the fact that we are at the end of the decade. Lot of happenings occurred in these past ten years the most remarkable achievements were seen in the field of technology. Not only, has the world seen a significant growth in the advancement of science and technology but also in sex and relationships. I just want to share ‘The Three’ of the decade.
Mobile Phones
Mobile phones in the early years of this decade was seen as an unnecessary element but now at end of this decade it has become a part of our lifestyle and one can’t even imagine a day without mobile phones. It has come a long way from being just a device to ‘talk and end’ to smart phones-which can do a lot than just ‘talk and end’.
Though the Social networking sites grew only in the middle years of this decade it has seen a tremendous response in the end. Gone are those days when people used Internet only for gathering information.
Sex and relationships
The way we see ‘sex’ has changed a lot in India. Sex the word itself which was considered as a taboo has changed gradually in this decade. Words like Gay, Lesbian; heterosexuality has become common words of expressions. Another factor is the rise of Divorce cases, relationship these days soar much earlier than expected because of several factors like:
Life in Metros: People who live in the urban set up are much more egoistic than the people in rural places and one of the reasons behind this is quite obvious, education. Education has definitely helped our lifestyle to reach a new level but not our relationships; it only gives us the unwillingness to accept our faults and makes us even more egoistic. Factors like self –centeredness refuses to move away and paves way for separation.
Stressful life: We are living in an unconvincing world which always expects more from us and never let us to look after ourselves. Our modern world has given nothing but frustration and tension and gives away very less time to think about emotions. Relationship is all about spending more time with the spouse but very less time is spent for highly sensitive intimate relationship and that is the core reason for the relationship to go downward spiral.
Talking about relationships one cannot ignore about Live-In Relationship which has also become more common in recent times. The decade has shown us new a new perspective towards life and more importantly it has been a path breaking decade.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The Social Network
Cast: Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Justin Timberlake
Social Networking has become a major diverting element for most of the people all over the globe and Facebook plays a very crucial role in driving the people towards it than any other social networking site. Facebook has gained adorations from all sections of the society for lot many reasons and more recently Facebook beat Google as the most visited website for the very first time in USA. Undoubtedly many use the internet just for facebooking, but what sounded really strange was amidst its popularity no body actually knew about its origin until Ben Mezrich came up with a book called The Accidental Billionaires but it is mainly because of the movie The Social Network directed by well acclaimed director David Fincher who is known for popular movies like Fight club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button many are aware of the real story behind Facebook.
Social Networking has become a major diverting element for most of the people all over the globe and Facebook plays a very crucial role in driving the people towards it than any other social networking site. Facebook has gained adorations from all sections of the society for lot many reasons and more recently Facebook beat Google as the most visited website for the very first time in USA. Undoubtedly many use the internet just for facebooking, but what sounded really strange was amidst its popularity no body actually knew about its origin until Ben Mezrich came up with a book called The Accidental Billionaires but it is mainly because of the movie The Social Network directed by well acclaimed director David Fincher who is known for popular movies like Fight club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button many are aware of the real story behind Facebook.
PLOT:
It is set in 2003, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), is a Harvard student who gets into the idea of creating a website by getting all the pictures and other details of the Harvard girls through Hacking with the help from his friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield).Both of them together create a website called “FaceMash”, in which everyone gets the access to view the girls pictures and can rate who is more attractive. Meanwhile, the advent of this new site jeopardizes the Harvard’s network and Mark is punished for obvious reasons.
The popularity level prompts Mark to do some serious job with this, so with his friend Eduardo alters certain things and comes with new ideas for his new social networking site and name it as “thefacebook”. But the popularity of ‘facebook ‘allows both Mark and Eduardo reach new heights but unfortunately their friendship soars, and Eduardo goes to the level of suing Mark.
Since it is real and tricky, the director must have taken every trivial detail very seriously to bring it out as a perfect movie. The movie is quite interesting and the screenplay has been crafted in such a way that not even in a single scene one gets a boredom feel. All the actors have justified their roles and it is also one of the added advantages of the movie. To miss this is a Sin atleast for those who use ‘Facebook’. LOL! Cheers!!!
Friday, September 24, 2010
A let down for a proud nation-Peter Roebuck
By all accounts, the Commonwealth Games entrusted to the capital city of one of the most
influential countries around is going to be a profound disappointment. Already it has shown this mighty nation in a poor light. Admittedly Westerners can be fussy but they are entitled to expect high standards. After all they come not as curious visitors but as elite performers.
Of course it is still possible that India might pull it off. Experience with cricket grounds indicates that locals can work miracles at the last minute. Examining facilities two days before the match is due to begin is like studying an incomplete Picasso; its all squiggles and odd shapes. Somehow it comes together.
Of course it is still possible that India might pull it off. Experience with cricket grounds indicates that locals can work miracles at the last minute. Examining facilities two days before the match is due to begin is like studying an incomplete Picasso; its all squiggles and odd shapes. Somehow it comes together.
Every nation is different. Greeks drink strong coffee, South Americans listen to jazz till dawn. Germans rise on organisation, Australians relish regulation. By the look of things Indians respond only to a crisis. In an attempt to rescue the situation Manmohan Singh is putting his shoulder to the wheel. But the involvement of an esteemed and busy leader confirms the parlous state of preparations.
Meanwhile reporters rail against the strategy of putting the Games in the hands of corrupt and sluggish public officials and not private enterprise. A proud nation feels that it has been let down. If the Games go badly then it might signify the long awaited demise of old India. In that case dismay may once again be the mother of progress.
Other countries have met the challenge of hosting major international events. Doubtless locals admired the way South Africa staged the recent football World Cup. Against most predictions, Greece held a superb Olympics. Now Brazil has been given responsibility for the next edition of the football World Cup. Of course it will be a triumph. Brazil is mad for the game and will not tolerate anything else.
Now it is India's turn to stand up. Of course it has held many previous meetings of all descriptions and ended with ribbons.
India's first cricket World Cup was the most enjoyable in memory. All the more reason to rage at the current squalor. Sometimes to smile and shrug is to patronise.
India's response to the slipshod organisation has been encouraging. In the past locals might have been offended by the bad reviews. Now they condemn not the critics but their own leaders. A modern, ambitious country has emerged in the last few years, one unwilling to tolerate third rate service.
According to McKinsey's, in the next 15 years 291 million Indians will move from poverty to a sustainable lifestyle whilst the middle class will increase from 50 million to 583 million people. That changes everything. Muddling along is no longer enough. Perhaps the Games will surpass expectations. After all there is a warmth in this country that raises the spirit even as it exhausts the body. Regardless, the setbacks are not acceptable.
Certainly cricket followers are entitled to demand that their forthcoming World Cup be a resounding success. The BCCI has plenty of money. Anything less ought to lead to widespread resignations. Top class facilities are required — for players, public and press. Brown bags and last minute rescue missions ought to be things of the past.
Sport has been a laggard in India. An abundance of scientists, economists, businessmen, writers and thinkers have emerged. Many prestigious prizes have been won. But sport continues to depend not on the excellence of the structures but on the brilliance of the individual.
Indian teams succeed despite the system not because of it. That cannot be tolerated a moment longer. A revolution is needed.
Delhi is merely an illustration of a malaise India outgrew long ago.
The Hindu
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