Of styles and mannerisms...

Posted by Anantha | Posted in | Posted on Saturday, July 21, 2012

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Of all the news articles I have read about Rajesh Khanna recently, Avijit Ghosh's article in TOI seemed very candid. Talking about Rajesh Khanna's post glory days - Avijit says, "Rajesh Khanna's acting was defined by style. But in his later years, the style degenerated into a bundle of mannerisms. Like Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna too became his own parody".

I feel that is true with most the actors who were once crowned as superstars in Indian Cinema. Uff... the perils of stardom. In an effort to create their own niche, they create their own style. Their fans crave more of it. Then these styles and mannerisms sneak awkwardly into every character and every scene they play. While watching some old movies I have always sat back and said - 'Hey, wait.... there is too much of Rajesh Khanna/Dev Anand/Dilip Kumar/Shammi Kapoor in this character.. where is Gopal or Shyam or Raju in this!!'. 

With multitude of stories being told and diverse characters etched out, I am glad many of current actors are not getting repetitive. I am glad that presently in Hindi Cinema, there is no scope for an actor to become a superstar! Thanks to the new breed of screen writers and directors for that. Kudos to the courage of the actors too.

The 17th one...

Posted by Anantha | Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2012

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Federer wins this Grandslam after a gap of little more than two years. When every great sports person goes through a lean patch of their career, it is common for media to despise him. It gets worse if that person is nearing 30. But, greatest players are those who never let such criticism get into their heads, just the way they never let success get into their heads in their prime time. Me being a devotee of Federer, waited patiently for him to lift up another Grandslam during all this time. In these matters I was as convinced as Federer or his clan could be. As Murray said, I totally believed that Federer at 30 is still better than most of the players out there.


Like the way Tendulkar took his time to reach his 100th ton, Federer might take a little while to reach his 20th Grandslam! Lets patiently wait till that happens :)

Gangs of Wasseypur

Posted by Anantha | Posted in , | Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2012

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Dir: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Piyush Pishra, Richa Chadda


Movie viewing is a personal experience. A person likes or dislikes a movie based on his/her own reasons. The more the valid reasons are, so genuine will be the like/dislike. Having said that, I do not personally like these kinds of subjects for a movie or a story - to be precise - for my own reasons, which I have tried to elaborate below. Also want to accentuate, that Gangs of Wasseypur is certainly a well made movie, I have a personal liking for Anurag Kashyap, have always liked the distinct quirks in his earlier movies.

The movie is the story of Sardar Khan [Manoj Bajpai] who runs coal, scrap, ‘machchi’, fruit mafia and what not in Dhanbad/Wasseypur with his chacha Farhan [Piyush Mishra] and et al. Besides running  all these mafia, Sardar Khan has a clear motive of killing Ramadhir Singh [Tigmanshu Dhulia], an ex mafia don who is busy making his career in politics now, to avenge for his father’s murder. What seems to be a revenge drama set in the socio-political backdrop of Dhanbad is equally the story of chacha Farhan [who narrates the story to audience throughout the movie], and Nagma – Sardar’s wife, Durga – Sardar’s keep, Ramadhir Singh and coal, sand, scrap mafia and rivalry between different local ethnic groups. I think it’s the brilliance of scriptwriters to make this movie a story of all these people and places and also a handful of other characters which I have not mentioned here. The focus of narration shifts among these characters without audience feeling the jerk. Anurag seems to be very sure of this premise and is in complete command over the story.

Ok, now let me state why I do not like these types of stories. Often, the stories of gang wars stride in the labyrinth of revenge, jealousy, greed for power and plenty of double crosses. Then there are merciless murders, people getting swatted like worms, bodies lying lifeless in the pool of blood, remorseless murderers, toothless police men, lustful romances, myriad of sidekicks and plenty of maderch**, behench**, chut*** and many such cuss words. Actually that’s not entirely the problem I have with these stories, if these elements add to the starkness of the film, I am okay with it. My problem is, why these characters wait so long to kill each other when anybody can get rid of anybody at any place at any moment! Did you get my point..? When the story is aplenty with so many opportunities for the characters to kill each other, when the end of the story can never be just to any single character in it... Why not have a bang-bang climax much before..?! Most of all, with such movies, Ill not be left with anything to carry back home when leaving the theater. It’s for this reason; I do not think I am waiting for Gangs of Wasseypur II in which Sardar Khan’s second son Faizal Khan completes the revenge against Ramadheer Singh. No point waiting for the sequel, as there are no secrets to be busted, no questions are left unanswered and not enough interest generated...

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