Udaan

Posted by Anantha | Posted in , | Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012

4

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane
Cast: Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Ram Kapoor, Aayan Boradia


I am not going to write this post like my earlier movie reco posts. As there is lot to say and I am finding it tough to connect the dots. Just to be really really brief about the plot, Udaan is about the relationship of this teenager Rohan [Rajat Barmecha] with his disciplinarian father Bhairav Singh [Ronit Roy] and also with his step brother Arjun [Aayan Boradia].

I am in a mood to say too much, this post would contain many plot spoilers, but if you have not seen Udaan, don't worry too much about it. Because in this movie how it happens is more important than what exactly happens.


  • The city of Jemshedpur looked really beautiful in the movie. I have never been to Jemshedpur. The city which I had imagined to be a dusty and rusty city through my myopic imagination, actually looks lusciously green and 'beautifully wet' in the rainy season. It has become a cliche for writers and directors to say the city or town they are using as a backdrop for the film is supposedly a character in the film and not a mere locale. But in Udaan, Jemshedpur and Shimla, both the places where the movie is shot, come across alive as any other character in the movie. When Bhairav Singh [Ronit Roy] and Rohan [Rajat Barmecha] were running across the city, I really felt like running in that city! Any marathons in Jemshedpur? ;)
  • Loved many of the symbolism used in the movie. The beating of hot iron by a huge piston kinda in Bhairav Singh’s factory when Rohan works as an apprentice there by equating Bhairav befitting Rohan into a mold he wants him to be in, then Jimmy [chachoo, Bhairav’s younger bro] seeing Rohan catching up with Bhairav Singh in one of their early morning jogs symbolizing the grown up Rohan who no longer wants to follow his father’s footsteps and is ready to take on the world. It is very unfortunate that Jimmy sees it, the audience sees it but Bhairav would not.
  • Rohan's friends Vikram, Maninder n Benoy are introduced to the audience at the beginning and not shown at all after they get expelled from school and return to their respective hometowns. Even when we are shown Rohan speaking to Maninder on phone twice in the movie, we just get to hear the voice of Maninder. This trick works great, as an audience we miss to see Rohan's friends as he misses them after their boarding school. Thus we are made to feel what Rohan feels, we are made to miss what Rohan misses. Basically, the director has made sure that we travel with Rohan in his emotional journey.
  • Loved the way Arjun, the step brother of Rohan played by Ayan Boradia, points his finger at defeated Rohan and says 'disgraceful' repeating their father Bhairav Singh :-)
  • Watched director Vikramaditya Motwane's commentary on the movie where he talks about some of the scenes in the movie which he liked shooting, which he disliked for the way it has come out, where he confesses about some small little bloopers in smoking continuities, hair and make up continuity, some justifications for why the things are the way they were in the movie, scenes which were absolute pain to shoot purely because of the logistical and monetary constraints, scenes where things have fallen in place very very unexpectedly (when Rohan comes to live with his father after a gap of 8 years, the quote - Love Happiness on his Tee appears as Lose Happiness because of a crease when he sits on the bed) and have made them look beautiful. I personally love these kind of commentaries which tell the process of a draft manifesting into a fine final product. Another reason to buy original DVDs :) And I must thank Tess for lending me this DVD.
  • The childhood photos of Rohan and his mother which appear in a photo album in the movie are actually of Vikramaditya Motwane's wife Ishika's and her nephew's. And those were the still photos taken by Vikramaditya himself. The photos are very candid and the lady in the photo Ishika is very very gracious!
  • Another special thing about the movie is, the narration does not appear to be in hurry to reveal everything to the audience at once. It takes its time to sufficiently build the aura of every character and create the projection of image in audience's mind and judiciously reveals the details a bit here and a little there.
  • A word about the acting department. Rajat Barmecha is just fine as a teenager with simmering anger against his upbringing. He shows his vulnerable side too when he is reciting stories, poems and during his lately built camaraderie with his step brother. Ram Kapoor is brilliant in his small yet strong role. Manjoth Singh instantly strikes a chord with the audience. According to me, the best was Ronit Roy as Bhairav Singh. Basically it is a well etched multi-layered character. A gray character that is going to stay in my mind for a long time.

Last but not the least, this is the poem Rohan recites to Maninder when both of them – along with other two friends Vikram and Benoy – get expelled from their boarding school and would have to part ways for getting caught watching an adult film in a theater in Shimla.

choti choti chhitrai yaadein
bichhi hui hain lamho ki lawn pe
nange pair unpar chalte chalte
itni dur chalein aaye hain
ki ab bhool gaye joote kaha utare the

aidi komal thi jab aaye the
thodi si nazuk hai abhi bhi
aur nazuk hi rahegi
in khatti meethi yadon ki shararat
jab tak inhe gudgudati rahe

sach, bhool gaye hain
ki joote kahan utare the
par lagta hai
ab unki jarurat nahi..

Note: chhitrai means sprinkled

I found this poem very close to my heart. Want to dedicate this to my close buddies – Basu, Byre, Prashi and Bhai. Neither did we study together in boarding school nor were we caught watching an adult film in theater, but this is to our share of bullshit and mess and fun we were part of :)

Naina baan paDi by Nandini Srikar

Posted by Anantha | Posted in | Posted on Wednesday, May 02, 2012

0

The song, "Dil mera muft ka..." from Agent Vinod got added to my playlist little late. I must say, much after the Pungi song. "Dil mera muft ka..." has been played in endless loops during my long runs. Though the tune is catchy, it is the singing which I loved the most. On spending little time on net, I found out the singer's name is Nandini Srikar. She is the one who had sung 'Bhare Naina..' from Ra.One. It also led me to some of the non-filmi compositions by this amazingly talented woman. 'Naina baan paDi' is a song composed and sung By Nandini Srikar for her private album Beete Pal which was released in 2011. It is originally written by Meera, which also has a version sung by legendary Asha Bhosle.

For now, check this soulful composition and rendition by Nandini Srikar... Ever since, I listened to this song, I have become a huge fan of hers. Let me know if you like it or not...



PS: Can you believe that 'very Indian sounding' piece of stuff from 3 Mins 29 Secs is actually Electric Guitar..!?!! That's by guitarist Prasanna

PPS: Sunidhi Chauhan, Richa Sharma, Harshdeep Kaur and now Nandini Srikar... not sure how many more such names get added to this list in future. Bring it on Bolly Music, I have kept this list open... :)

Milind Soman and team are on Greenathon Run of 1500Kms from Delhi to Mumbai

Posted by Anantha | Posted in , | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2012

4

Greenathon is an NDTV-Toyota initiative to address environmental issues and spread awareness about usage of alternative sources of energy, wild life conservation, restoring forests and also whole lot of things. This year's Greenathon is a 4th annual event which kicked off on Earth Day on 20th of April. Model cum Actor cum Ultra Marathon runner Milind Soman has been actively taking part in this initiative every year. This year with a team of 4 runners he has started his run of 1500 Kms from Delhi to Mumbai in a span of 30 days!!! That means the team has to run a Ultra Marathon of 50 Kms at least everyday for a month...!!!!! Along the route, he would be meeting school students, social workers and other common people who have worked towards the cause. Some of the local runners too could join the team on and off.

The updates by Milind on his run and videos from NDTV team could be tracked here on daily basis. Today is the 6th day of their run. They must have covered over 300Kms already. Some of the videos in the site shows the team running mostly during the night to avoid the scorching summer Sun of Delhi and Rajasthan. Guys, running a marathon itself is not easy. For 2 days after running my first ever marathon, I did not feel like getting up from my seat for a  sip of water. That's the level of fitness we common people have. Now imagine running an Ultra Marathon everyday for a month in peak summer. It is just superhuman! Kudos to Milind and his team members - Sajjan Dabas, Apurba Kumar Dass, Raj Vadgama and Sumedha Mahajan. I wish them all the best and pray for their health.

Masoom (1983)

Posted by Anantha | Posted in , | Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012

2

Dir: Shekhar Kapoor
Screenplay, Dialogues, Lyrics: Gulzar
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi
Music Composer: R D Burman

I just wonder how could I miss such a wonderful movie for all these years. The movie I am talking about is Masoom, directed by Shekhar Kapoor and written by Gulzar saab. D K Malhotra and Indu [played by Naseeruddin Shah and Sabana Azmi to utmost perfection] is a happy and loving couple living in Delhi with their kid daughters Pinky and Mini [adorably cute Urmila and Aradhana]. This perfectly happy family gets devastated when Naseeruddin Shah gets to hear the news that he has an illegitimate son from his once classmate Bhavana [played by Supriya Pathak] out of their brief affair they had in one of the school reunions in Nainital, that too when his wife would be expecting their first child back home in Delhi. Bhavana would have concealed this news from Naseer to save his marriage with Shabana. After Bhavana's untimely death, Bhavana  and Naseer's masterji would be the caretaker of their illegitimate kid Rahul [played by Jugal Hansraj]. Eventually, when masterji dies, Naseer would be left with no option but to bring Rahul to his home in Delhi. Further, the story delves into how Shabana initially hates to accept other woman's child in her life, how Naseer is torn between his dutifulness to his illegitimate kid and regaining the trust of his loving wife, how Rahul gets to know that Naseer himself is his father.

One of my observations in the movie was - how could the scenes and the dialogues can look so real. For instance, check the scene where Shabana Azmi talks to Naseer in the bedroom. She speaks so incoherently finishing her chores for the day- "Main bol rahi hoon, main us kutte ko nahin rehne doongi (referring to the puppy Naseer would have brought home)", "Yeh Bela bhi nahin aayi aaj(must be the maid)", "Maine kitni baar kahaan ke woh cheshma utaar ke phenk do", "peet ka dard kaisa hain tumhaara" all interlaced with Naseer's brief answers. Though it seems so incoherent, it comes across as a very real private conversation of a husband and wife. I read in Shekhar Kapoor's blog that he used to insist the cast of the film to have lunch/dinner together so they bond together as a family. And the result is very evident from the on-screen chemistry. It was even mentioned by one of the members the cast that, he used to curiously observe the kid actors on the sets and incorporate some of their playful tricks, rhymes recitals and interpolated them intelligently in the script. No wonder, their fights, their incessant questions, their dance, their pillow fights look so perfect as done by toddlers of that age. It's so rare to see kids in movies appearing the way they are and not as how an adult director would conceive they would be. It is for this reason, the kids immensely contribute to many of the lump-in-throat moments in the movie.

The characters of Indu and  D K Malhotra are made to look of flesh and blood by monsters of the actors Naseer Saab and Sabana ji. Check the way Shabanaji emotes when Naseer breaks open the secret about his affair.. check the scene where Naseer confides about the same to his buddy Suri [Saeed Jaffrey], his very posture on the chair says volumes about  his acting prowess. All the three kids are adorable and cute. How can this movie reco be complete if I do not mention about Pancham Da's music. Almost all the songs in the movie are very very melodious. 'Huzoor is kadar..' jointly sung by Bhupinder Singh and Suresh Wadekar is my favourite of them all. I liked the playfulness of the lyrics and amazing renditions by both the singers.

One of the beginning scenes in the movie where the puppy at home drops the photoframe of the family contaning pics of Naseer, Shabana and their daughters to the last scene, where the camera focusses on the new family pic with Rahul sitting along, the movie is surely going to remain close to my heart.

PS: Not a complaint, but just an observation about Naseer Saab's acting in drunken scenes! I feel he is "caught acting" when he overdoes some little things when he has to act drunken. Observed this in "Huzoor is kadar.." song, I had the same feeling when I watched him swaying at the last ever scene in "Ibn-e-batoota.." song from Ishqiyan!!

Tad more on superstitions, particularly in Cricket

Posted by Anantha | Posted in | Posted on Thursday, April 19, 2012

0

In my last post I had mentioned few of the superstitions the sports persons follow, as quoted by Mathew Syed in the book Bounce. Incidentally, Ed Smith - one of my favorite Cricket columnists whom I regularly follow, has written about What makes cricketers superstitious?

An excerpt from this column:
"...But cricket, surely, remains the most superstitious of all sports. Why? Partly because there is more time to observe - well, invent - correlations between patterns of behaviour and runs scored. The Indian psychologist Ashish Nandy has a different theory: superstition is built into the structure of the game because there is such a high degree of luck. Nandy explores the theory in his left-field book The Tao of Cricket: "It is a game of chance and skill which has to be played as if it is wholly a game of skill… Cricket is nearly impossible to predict, control or prognosticate. There are too many variables and many of the relationships among the variables are determined by chance.""

Now, don't try to rationalize these things. Enjoy these quirks along with the game :)
This book, Tao of Cricket by Ashish Nandy seems very interesting. I think I am going to pick this up soon...

Bounce by Matthew Syed

Posted by Anantha | Posted in | Posted on Friday, April 13, 2012

7



I must say, this is one of the most impressive sports books I have read. Sometime back, in one of my blogposts - Sports and Genes, I had mentioned about my assumptions - mostly assimilated by generalizations, about the impact of genes on sports. Why do always Kenyans or Ethiopians win Long Distance running  events, why Asians are better in Badminton, Gymnastics and Table Tennis, why we do not see many black swimmers qualifying for major Swimming events? When I had written about it, they perfectly seemed like valid questions to me. After reading Bounce, I feel the questions were really vague. In this book, Mathew mentions about fallacies of these generalizations. When the research says, the gene pool of people in Eldoret, Kenya (the cradle of long distance runners) itself is so diverse, I realize how wrong it is to say 'Asians are good at Badminton' :)

Matthew Syed is a British journalist and was the No. 1 Table Tennis player in UK for almost a decade. In the book, ‘Bounce – How Champions are made’ Matthew Syed discusses about environmental influences, motivational sparks, the social strata of sports persons, child prodigies, superstition in sports, choking of sports persons at crunch moments, performance enhancing drugs and most importantly about ‘the myth of talent and the power of practice’. A hardcore believer of practice, mentions that it was possible for him to become No.1 TT player of UK only because he had put in thousands of hours of practice under supreme coaches with special and efficient techniques and it had absolutely nothing to do with his superior ‘genes for TT’ (if such thing exists), as both his parents had never ever wielded a TT racquet in their entire life, nor did he have any maternal or paternal relatives who were good at TT. 

Many of the first few sections of the book emphasize the concept of 10,000 hours of practice - a theory by Malcolm Gladwell. The author gives some contemporary examples from Tiger Woods to Williams Sisters to few skating champions who would not have reached the pinnacle of success if they had not practiced hard. With many case studies proving this and quoting from many scientific researches Matthew lays his argument open to the readers. With no substitute to hard work, the author breaks our assumptions about in born talent too. Also sneaks into the childhood of Mozart and disproves why Mozart is not a child prodigy - for that matter, according to the author, child prodigiousness is a myth. With a strict father who was musically inclined, Mozart had already practiced for thousands of hours of music before even reaching the age of 10-11. But to the world, he was a child prodigy. Matthew also cites the example of Hungarian Chess teacher Laszlo Polgar, who challenged the world to raise all the three of his daughters as the best chess players in the history. The youngest of the daughters being Judit Polgar, the most successful of the three and also who was in news for beating our own Vishwanathan Anand and Anatoli Karpov and the likes.

To accentuate, when author mentions thousands of hours of practice, he means effective practice and not just hours spent aimlessly on any skill. The book also cites from a research that why Brazilians were once so invincible in Football. The secret behind their success being their superior practice technique called Futsal. When a player like Ronaldinho himself says, any player who masters the art of tackling and passing with the smaller and heavier ball in Futsal can never ever fail in the game of Football, there certainly must be truth in this practicing technique. 

Superstition of sports persons is seriously debatable and at times equally amusing topic. It seems Serena Williams carries her shower slippers in her Tennis Kit for every match and most of the tennis players pitch the ball certain number of times before each service. Matthew jokes, sometimes it makes him wonder whether Wimbledon is a contest of Tennis or a contest of superstitions. It is really funny to think that the color of the shoes or whether the batsman steps into the ground with his right or left foot in, influences his performance on field that day. Mathew says, as long as their beliefs are harmless and it helps them to give their best, who are we to tell them not to do it. By the way, did you know even pigeons are superstitious, and superstitions could have descended to humans through evolution..?!

Apart from all these interesting topics, the obvious undertone of the book comes across very effectively, that practice makes us perfect. It is a must read for all those who give up mid-way of achieving, thinking that they do not have it in them to achieve. I would like to end with a quote from Malcolm Gladwell - “Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good.”

Dravid calls it a day

Posted by Anantha | Posted in | Posted on Friday, March 09, 2012

4


I was in my high school when Dravid made his Test debut at much coveted Lord’s. I remember discussing with my friends about the century made by Ganguly – the other legend and the then debutant in the same game and a nearly missed century by Dravid. This episode made me like Dravid, like the way I love any underdog! In later games and tours, I realized, I was loving Dravid for all the wrong reasons! After all, he was not an underdog; he was a silent giant with unmatchable patience and determination, always masked by his modesty. 


We choose our heroes. Dravid could be a very unlikely hero. He was not termed a genius like Sachin, he seriously lacked aggression that Ganguly showed on and off the pitch, most of his good performances were often overshadowed by other legends in the team. I have cringed many times, when the match was actually saved by Dravid, but he ended up being the 2nd top scorer of the side. Dravid was never an attacking batsman [I had jumped off my seat when he had scored a six off Allan Donald, that went like a rocket propelled parallel to the ground and very few such handful of moments I remember and cherish], his strength was his solid defense, his perseverance, his ability to take back seat and let his partner at the other end attack. I am sure, when The Wall was at the other end of the wicket; batsmen have swung their bat freely without any inhibitions. Ravi Shastri once rightly said, it is not the number of centuries of half centuries that measures the greatness of players like Dravid. It is his number of double and triple century partnerships he has produced with his teammates. Yes, he was such a player. He was the damage controller of our team, when we lost wickets in quick succession, when our openers could not stand against the pace attacks on foreign pitches, Mr dependable at No.3 would take over. 

Sometimes when India used to lose badly in tests on foreign pitches, ignoring the team’s performance, I remember glancing through the scorecards hoping to see Dravid as the lead scorer of the team. Such was and still is my loyalty for Dravid. 

I am bad at statistics. Ask me the best centuries by Dravid, I would surely fumble. But I do remember things like how Jonathan Trott wished Dravid after latter’s last ODI innings in England in last September. I am sure Indians would want to forget this tour of England where we were beaten black and blue in test series. Then selectors threw a surprise to Dravid and his fans by selecting him for the ODI side after many years. Soon Dravid announced his retirement and said, that ODI series would be his last which left BCCI red faced. So in September 2011, Dravid was to play his last ODI international, the last of the 5 match series. India batted first. After scoring a half century and sharing a good partnership with Kohli, Dravid was bowled out by Swann. Dravid, being a true gentleman, started to walk towards the pavilion. Then most of the English players came to Dravid and shook his hand wishing him on his last ODI. But, Jonathan Trott did something unusual. He took his cap off before shaking Dravid’s hand. Now, that’s the respect Dravid had earned from his opponents. That’s greatness of Dravid, to be respected by his teammates as well as by his opponents. It’s easy and very natural to be disliked by the opponents, but it requires true character to be respected by the opponents. Well, it was nice of Trott too to gesticulate that way. That’s how Dravid played Cricket. That’s what he meant when he said, it is important to be respected in the dressing room as well as on field by opponents in Sir Bradman Oration speech he delivered recently in Australia.  

Well, retirement in sports is tricky. It has to come at the right moment, before you are made to feel your services are no longer required for the team. Not all get a heroic farewell. Dravid too did not get. Even if he had got big scores in the last tour of Australia, I doubt it would have fit into Dravid’s scheme of things. He made a silent entry; he has now made a silent exit. In the midst, he has scored a whopping 24000+ runs collectively in both the forms of the game. I think this figure speaks volumes about this man.

To end my tribute to my hero, I would like to quote from my favorite cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle from this column about Dravid – “He will be missed, as the great always are. He will see his children grow, take them to school, imbibe in them the reading habit (for he read more than most people I know and couldn't understand why others didn't), but from time to time he must tell the new flowers that will inevitably bloom in our cricket of the need to put grit over beauty, team over self, challenge before rejection, humility before arrogance, for that is what he stood for.”

Good bye Dravid, you will always be my hero…….


Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)