The Past - A thought provoking, whirlwind of complex emotions

It’s a movie that haunts. It is an unsettling drama that claims you and there is no way you can get done with it. The more you try to make peace with it the more it lurks. Yes, that’s the effect this movie will have on you.  If you are looking for answers, watch out!! All that this movie has to offer is questions and that’s where its beauty lies.

It chokes and makes you see the grey in life; it brings you face to face with characters that are essentially good. It’s a story about three people who are failed by their good intentions.

Failed marriage, illicit relationship, parenting, hidden motives and the desperate need to seek happiness is the edifice on which Ashgar Farhidi models The Past. It’s not at all strange to see how each character in the movie is linked with the other and how difficult it’s for them to break the ties that are already broken. Each character has their own story and reasons and each one of them is noble in their depravity.

Movie opens with Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) the estranged husband to Marie who heads back to Paris to settle his past. Marie (Bérénice Bejo) survivor of two failed marriages and a mother of two daughters, she yearns for a divorce to get settled with her new boyfriend and then there is Samir (Tahar Rahim) Marie’s boyfriend.

Of all the three, Samir is the one whose life is fucked the most. Left with a son and a comatose wife, he has the ugly reality of his wife’s fouled up suicide attempt to deal with.

 Ahmad comes to Paris in the search for closure. His desire to get divorced with Marie and end everything on a happy note is thwarted when he is dragged in Marie’s present life. There is an unfinished business between the two. Ahmad left Marie 4 years ago and has to pay off by dealing with her boyfriend’s son (Faud) and council her elder daughter (Lucie) to accommodate Samir in their life. Lucie like every other daughter wants her mother to be happy. She is tired of her mother’s fleeting romances and is unable to understand why men in her mother’s life don’t stay. Lucie has a secret that alters her mother’s chances of happiness and it’s her secret that shifts the story and leads us to the end.

But, like I said, Ashagar Faridi doesn’t offer you any answers. The way he twists the truth in each character’s hand and how it leads to the wrong beginnings is an act of marvel. Ashgar Faridi doesn’t corrupt the movie with grandiose instead he keeps it real without any music and minimum props. He makes his characters speak more with the expressions and less with dialogues. Every frame in which Bérénice Bejo is caught up with speaks volumes. Her bottled up frustration, helplessness and her anger is witnessed in her expressions. He does an excellent job in making us stay with her in witnessing her wretchedness. The scene where she waits on the road and asks Lucie to come back home will make you one with her emotions. He is a ruthless director who makes us witness intense suffering and the only antidote he offers is that he makes it easy for us to empathize with the characters.

He throws these hints at the reader and asks the audience to form a reality with it. He lets us gauge the relationship between Marie and Ahmad when she spits bitterness towards Ahmad, “When you play the good guy and try to teach us something, I really hate you.”

We know Marie isn’t able to let go of Ahmad when Lucie breaks it to Ahmad, “Do you know why she fell in love with that jerk? Because he looked like you”. We know Faud doesn’t hate Marie when he asks Samir why he can’t stay at Marie’s place.

 We know as much as Samir despises his wife for committing suicide and jeopardizing his life, he isn’t thoughtlessly selfish and does care for her when he asks her, “Squeeze my hand if you feel anything, Celine”. The closing shot is one of the best shot scenes and reveals a lot about the dilemma and human emotions.

The past neither instructs nor delights instead it blurs the line where it is difficult to separate the past from the present. A thought-provoking, whirlwind of complex emotions, it’s a saga of uncertainty and failed attempts to seek happiness.

The Lunchbox - a delightful treat!!

Anybody who thought great movies need grand canvas should watch The Lunchbox. With a limited canvas of a small kitchen, an office desk, office canteen and a lunchbox, Ritesh batra spins an unalloyed story that speaks of pure emotions.

It’s a small mistake that leads to creating a bond between two lonely people. The bonding between Saajan Fernandes and Ila depicts that agonizing need for companionship and loneliness that is followed by ever growing silence. Beauty of the story lies in the exchange of thoughts and conversations through letters between the two.

Irrfan khan as Saajan fernandes is simply adorable. You may feel like you have known someone like him. As an officer in the claims department, he is meticulous and not to mess with kinds. A lonely man who is on the verge of retiring, he has only one job left to do, reliving the memories by looking at the past. It’s his sheer optimism, his sense of humor, and honesty with which he looks at things makes him so appealing. His apprehension towards Shaikh in the beginning and his being present at his wedding as a guardian brings out his complete character. A widower with a good heart, he knows what it’s like to be lonely. The way he thanks Ila for letting him be a part of her life, will make you believe in the goodness that still exists and that the gratitude and well-being of the other still can be the foundation of many relationships.  

Nimrat kaur as Ila is amazing as a bereft housewife whose husband is having an affair. She seeks comfort by developing a bond through letters with an aged man. Her silence before she speaks mirrors her helplessness. She epitomizes those middle class housewives who lose conversations and happiness in those stale hours that are filled with loneliness and poignant silence. Each time she utters ‘aunty’ from her kitchen, she portrays different shade of loneliness. It’s desperate, tired, urgent and helpless.

Nawazuddin as Shaikh is likeable in his persistent annoyance. His tricks to win favor of Sajan Fernandes are endearing. He becomes that breathing space that gives the story its funny moments.

Every framework of the movie retains its simplicity and honesty. Be it the kitchen or shots of the dabbawala in the train, every shot looks real. The background score creates tunes with vessels, pitter-patter of the rain, commotion in the train, everything that sounds familiar. Ritesh Batra just keeps what is required and he is great in bringing out the theme of loneliness on a limited canvas. He keeps it real. The Lunchbox is an unadulterated form of entertainment. Thanks to Ritesh batra for not corrupting the end of the movie. He leaves the audience with an ending that is real and which leaves a room for thinking.

You won’t be surprised if you can hear the song of the dabbavala much after you have left the theatre. I will sum up with a quote from the movie – ‘We forget things if we have no one to tell them’.

 Make sure you tell everyone about The Lunchbox and the delightful treat that it offers! 

Pyaasa - An unquenchable thirst

It won’t be an exaggeration to say ‘You are indeed Pyaasa if you haven’t seen Pyaasa’. A lot has been written about this movie, it is a classic, one of the best from the yester-years that Hindi Cinema has to offer. It is Guru Dutt’s magnum opus. Yes, it is all of these and more. It is a movie that will make you see and understand the society we live in. It’s not just a story about a pariah shaayar, it’s about a man’s attempt to embrace society at every step. It’s about a youth’s creativity getting muted in Post-colonial India. Vijay is not just a tormented soul, he is not just an outcast, he is someone who tries and fails and someone who eventually manages to find himself by understanding the nature of the society he lives in.

He falls for Meena, woos her with his nazams, she loves him back and leaves him wretched to marry a filthy rich businessman. Failed at love, Vijay finds life in his nazams. Rejected by his brothers, he is the black sheep of the family. The only person who belongs to him is his mother. The scene where Mausi begs him to take her with him speaks volume. It speaks of the unconditional love that a mother has to offer. Where do we search for acceptance when there is none that exist? Where do we go when family, society, your own love betrays you? One may think friends? Vijay is lucky in having an aaiyaash friend who loves to spend nights with concubines, who doesn’t mind renting his soul for a few bucks. The scene where he goes to sleep at his friend’s place and the concubine knocks at the door is one of the finest subtle scenes ever depicted. Guru Dutt’s excellence at hinting and conveying the underline meaning is fabulous. The way he folds the bedding he makes for himself on the floor and puts the pillow next to the pillow on the bed followed by that one pat on the pillow and a wily smile with which he leaves the place, says it all. No one could have done justice to the character of Vijay but Guru Dutt himself. A man of excellence does a marvelous job as an actor and director.

Left with no one to find, Vijay finds acceptance on street amongst the deplorable. His relationship with Gulabo, a prostitute (Waheeda Rehman) is one of the best relationships ever depicted on the silver screen. No wonders Pyaasa ranked amongst the top 5 romantic movies in the list of romantic movies of all time by Times Magazine in the year 2011.  Gulabo buys his nazams from a raddivala’s and makes a living from singing his nazams. She feeds him when he his hungry, waits for him when he is not to be found. She shares something in common with him, they are one in the contempt they receive from the society. The scene where she is not paid for her time and thrown out from the car, when Vijay saves her from the policeman and states she is his wife is beautiful.  

The scene where he meets his lost love Meena (Mala Sinha) and the mirror image of happy and sad version of her that leads to flashback is simply flawless. His confrontation with her when she gives justification for rejecting him and begs him to have an affair with her portrays the predicament of many women who choose money over love and suffer for the choice they make. Guru Dutt was much ahead of his time to envisage this predicament.

Pyaasa would be incomplete without the contribution of Sahir Ludhianvi. His nazams is the soul of the movie. The bazaar scene where a concubine is forced to continue her dance while her son is crying for her depicts the sheer, ruthless culture of Indian mehfil and bazaar. The song followed immediately by the scene ‘Jinhe Naaz hai hind par woh kahan hai’ was banned by Indian Government for it spoke of the brutality against women, the society and its hypocrisy, the sheer haplessness of women.  

Pyaasa is the complete journey of a man who is ostracized by society and who later on finds courage to reject it outright and makes no attempt to fit in it anymore. The last twenty five minutes where he rejects all the fame he had yearned for and shouts out loud ‘yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye toh kya hai’ is the best. The closing scene where Meena stops him and he says ‘I don’t have a problem with people, I have a problem with society that makes a brother betray a brother, that forces man to be everything but human’ is the best scene ever made.

The close up shot in the end where Waheeda Rehman and Guru Dutt walk towards each other just calls for a perfect happy ending.

Pyaasa is flawless. It has something for all movie freaks in it.  Movie has some light moments that are entwined perfectly. Johny Walker and his champi song ‘Sar jo tera takraye’ went on to become a cult song. It is cherished, loved and in demand even today.

I will conclude with the words of Waheeda Rehman ‘Guru Dutt remains the greatest film maker of Indian Cinema and his movies are to be showcased as the best that Hindi Cinema has to offer’.

Barfi - Movie Review

When silence celebrates life, words become inconsequential. Barfi is all about celebrating life, finding laughter in every moment and spreading joy around. Anurag Basu’s Barfi is unalloyed, delightful comedy devoid of opulence and superficiality that defines mainstream cinema. Basu’s protagonist Barfi is a charmer. He will make you laugh and cry and believe in what he does. He may be deaf and dumb but he communicates and conveys better than most of the normal people do. His mischief and tricks are tickling, he may steal but he is still harmless and innocent. Anurag Basu draws a fine line that separates humor from wit and serves you pure humor that results from funny, unavoidable situations. It is a sheer treat; Ranbir casts a spell on audience. He leaves behind Rockstar and gets into the skin of the character. He is Barfi, he may remind you of Chaplin, Raj kapoor and even Rowan Atkinson but he renders innocuous charm that’s unique and belongs only to “Barfi”. His life gets messed up when his dream girl appears on the screen. Ileana steals his heart at first, falls for him but leaves him heart broken. The scene where he proposes her and appreciates the choice she makes speaks volumes. He won’t let anyone sympathize with him. It will choke you completely, tears will well-up in your eyes but before you shed them, there is a laughter forming a bubble. The way he moves on from one heartache to other is commendable. There is sorrow but no hint of piety or loss, so fast and so easy, he makes it to move on. Three Cheers for Anurag Basu for capturing it so beautiful.

As much as Barfi belongs to Ranbir, it’s difficult to imagine without Priyanka Chopra. Barfi is incomplete without Jhilmil. PC is breathtaking as Jhilmil. She is just perfect as the autistic girl. With only one dialogue where she lashes out and exception of a few words such as shu-su, daajju, jhilmil and baffi, lady manages to steal the show. Hats off to Ravi K Chandran and Ravi Varman for capturing the beauty of nature that’s visible only to an autistic mind. Be it Darjeeling or Kalkata of 70s, it is been captured aesthetically. Music flows like river and complements silence amazingly.

Ilena as the sutradhar of the movie does a fab job, she looks beguiling and is convincing as Shruti, a meek, beautiful lady who chose to mute her love.

Basu’s obsession with Flashback continues, except for the unwanted murder mystery, kidnap of Jhilmil and a sluggish end, movie is just perfect. It has some memorable moments that will stay with you forever. Barfi going to meet Shruti’s parents to confess his love, his elation after receiving his first kiss, the beauty of night in the song ‘sanwali si raat’, Jhilmil’s disappearance after being ignored by Barfi and there is a lot more that will stay with you. Anybody who thought sorrow is cathartic should watch Barfi once.

This movie manages to moisten the parched lands and awaken your sleeping hearts. It is a sensitive movie meant purely to entertain. No wonders that only a man who braved cancer could make such a sensitive movie. Barfi is Anurag Basu’s magnum opus. It’s pure melody; it hits the right chords with audience. You are missing a life time experience if you haven’t watched it.