Outtakes: Ingmar Bergman / Srikanth Srinivasan

WHO is he?

Widely celebrated Swedish film and theatre director, scenarist and producer who made over 60 feature and television movies in a 60-year career spanning the 1940s and the 2000s. Three of his films — The Virgin Spring (1960), Through A Glass Darkly (1961) and Fanny and Alexander (1983) — won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film while Wild Strawberries (1957) took away the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival.

WHAT are his films about?

Themes

Bergman hailed from a conservative Protestant background and, consequently, religious Faith, Doubt and godlessness are key elements of his oeuvre. Protagonists of his films seek the solace of God’s presence, cope with His silence or downright see Him as a force of hatred. Despite this strong Christian influence, Bergman’s cinema remains deeply existential and probes the condition of man in a godless universe. They also deal with sexuality as a means of coping with life’s voids.

Style

It would not be far from the truth to say that Bergman’s cinema is a cinema of human faces. Like Carl Dreyer or G. Aravindan, Bergman, along with master cinematographer Sven Nykvist, studied the texture of the human face, its contours, its geography and the play of light on it. Numerous extreme close-ups, a predominantly indoor setting, a small set of ace stock actors, lack of conventional musical soundtrack, a distinct lack of humour and a relentlessly bleak tone are some of the major characteristics of his films.

Why is he of interest?

Among the most revered and groundbreaking of film directors in the history of the medium, Bergman is cited to be a vital influence by a plethora of current-day filmmakers. His cinematic chamber dramas — stories that unfold within confined spaces with a handful of actors — can be seen as a direct inspiration for the Berlin School filmmakers. For better or worse, Bergman’s intense body of work has been endlessly cited, adapted, imitated and parodied the world over.

WHERE to discover him?

Despite not being among the canonical Bergman films, Winter Light (1963) is perhaps the director’s greatest achievement and the most coherent articulation of all his religious and existential preoccupations. Through the character of the doubtful priest Tomas (Gunnar Björnstrand), the film explores the impossibility and the necessity of Faith in an increasingly strange, hostile world.

Courtesy- http://www.thehindu.com

अनुराग वत्स की कवितायें ....

निगाह की पहनाई क्या सिर्फ़ तुम्हें आती है

तो तुम सिगरेट इसलिए पीते रहे?
हाँ, बिलकुल ।
हद है !, तब पूरे पागल थे क्या?
फ़र्क कर लो ।
और तुम्हें क्या लगा कि मैं तुम्हें मना ही करुँगी । क्या होता गर मैं भी पीती ?
कुछ नहीं । मैं छोड़ देता ।
उफ्फ़ । एक बात बताओ, मेरे इतने डिटेल्स कैसे याद रख सके, जबकि कितना कम देखना होता था हमारा ।
आसान रहा यह मेरे लिए ।
कैसे ?
मैं तुम्हारी निगाह पहन लेता था ।
हाहाहा...लोग टोकते नहीं थे ?
हाँ, पर उनकी परवाह कौन करे । तुम अपनी फेवरेट ख़ुद को बताती रही करीना की तरह, तो मुझे लगा, अपनी निगाह से तुम्हें देखना कम देखना होगा ।

तुम्हें पता है, मुझे यह फ्लर्ट कितनी अच्छी लगती थी ।
ओहो! पता होता तो कम करता ।
एक लड़की के लिए जो यह बहुत नहीं सोच पाती कि उसे कोई देखने लायक भी मानता है, तुम क्या-क्या नहीं कहते रहे। यह मेरे लिए सबसे कम फ़िल्मी था क्योंकि तुम्हारी आवाज़ किसी परदे से नहीं निकलती थी । उसे मैं अपने रोओं पर रेंगता हुआ महसूस कर सकती थी ।
तुम आज मुकाबले में हो ।
मैंने भी पहली दफ़ा तब अपने लिबास से ज़्यादा तुम्हारी निगाह पहनना ज़रूरी समझा ।
अच्छा, फिर तुम्हारे साथ तो बड़ी छेड़-छाड़ हुई होगी ?
नाह, तुम क्या समझे, निगाह की पहनाई सिर्फ़ तुम्हें आती है ?
अरे नहीं ।
मेरा कभी न कहना मानने वाले बालों को मैंने अपने कन्धों पर 'हलके खुले बाल' की तरह उससे पहले कभी नहीं देखा था ।

एक बात बताओ, क्या तुम इस तरह शुरू हुई ?
शायद इससे पहले ।
कब से ?
जब से तुम्हारी आवाज़ के लिए जगह बनाना शुरू किया तब से ।
तुम्हें पहला वाक्य याद है ?
हाँ, वह तुम्हारा दनदनाता हुआ-सा मेल जिसका सब्जेक्ट रोमन में लिखा 'तुम' था और टेक्स्ट : मुझे एक भूली हुई भाषा की तरह मिली जिसे खोना नहीं चाहता \
अजब है, तुम इसे सुन सकी ?
हाँ, मेरे कान तुम्हारी आवाज़ चख चुके थे । इसलिए तुमने जो लिखा उसे बाद के दिनों में पढ़ा कम, सुना ज़्यादा।

कोई खिड़की नहीं
  
(उर्फ़ कैब में प्‍यार)

उसके आने से वह जगह घर बन जाती

घर बनना शिकायत से शुरू होता और हँसी पर ख़त्म
शिकायत यह कि 'बाहर की तेज़ हवाओं से मेरे बाल बिखर जाते हैं'
और हँसी इस बात पर कि 'इतना भी नहीं समझते'

हँसी की ओट में लड़के को शिकायत समझ में आती
और यह भी कि लड़की की तरफ़ से यह दुनिया से की गई
सबसे जेनुइन शिकायत क्यों है

फिर शिकायत के दो तरफ़ शीशे की दीवार उठ जाती
और हालाँकि दीवार में तो एक खिड़की का रहना बताया जाता है,
१२ किलोमीटर के असंभव फैलाव और अकल्पनीय विन्यास में
उसके आ जाने भर से रोज़-रोज़ आबाद
घर की दीवार में कोई खिड़की नहीं रहती

बाहर रात, सड़क, आसमाँ और चाँद-तारे रहे होंगे,
भीड़, जाम, लाल या हरी बत्तियाँ भी,
इस घर में तो लड़के का अजब ढंग होना और
लड़की की आँखों में शरीफ़ काजल ही रहा ।

बाहर का होना
घर टूटने के बाद याद आया :
दोनों को
अलबत्ता बहुत अलग-अलग ।


गिनती

अब जब कहीं कुछ नहीं की साखी है तो तुम्हारा
जानबूझकर मेरे पास भूल गया क्लचर है ।
मैं उससे आदतन खेलता हूँ, मगर एहतिहात से
कि कहीं तुम्हारी आवाज़ बरज ना दे ।
और टूट गया तो तुम्हारी तरह वैसा ही मिलना नामुमकिन ।

हुमायूँ'ज टॉम्ब, शाकुंतलम थियेटर और पराँठे वाली गली
तुम साथ ले गई । अब वे मेरी याद के नक़्शे में हैं, शहर दिल्ली में कहीं नहीं ।

यूथ भी ।
उसे अकेले पढ़ना असंभव होगा मेरे लिए ।

मेरा हरा कुर्ता हैंगर का होकर रह गया है ।
मानो उसे तुम्हारे हाथों ने दुलारा ही नहीं ।

आसमानी अदालत में मुझे मुज़रिम करार दिया गया है ।
सज़ा बरसात की सुनाई गई है...हद है !
...आगे कोई अपील नहीं...

सच पूछो तो तुम्हारा एसारके मुझे चिढ़ाता है ।
हालाँकि मैं रोमन हॉलीडे चाव से देख सकता हूँ ।

फिर भी मैं आजिजी में नहीं, बहुत इत्मिनान में फ्लोरेंतिनो अरिज़ा के
५३ साल, ७ महीने और ११ दिन-रात को अपना मुकम्मल ठिकाना बना रहा हूँ ।
पर इतनी उम्र मिलेगी फरमीना ?


डिठौना

एक तिल है बाईं आँख की सरहद पर तुम्हारी
जो मेरी निगाह से रार ठाने रहता है ।
उसे समझाओ न...!... या थोड़ा काजल बढ़ा कर छिपा ही दो ।
डिठौना करीब २८ में ठीक नहीं ।
इसे हमारे बच्चों के लिए रख छोड़ो ।


गुदगुदी

तुम्हारी हँसी की अलगनी पर मेरी नींद सूख रही है ।
तुम उसे दिन ढले ले आओगी कमरे में, तहा कर रखोगी सपने में ।
मैं उसे पहन कर कल काम पर जाऊँगा और मुझे दिन भर होगी गुदगुदी ।


कोई भाषा नहीं

तुम्हारे होठों पर सर्जरी के बाद छूट गई खरोंच का तर्ज़ुमा मैं 'दाग़ अच्छे हैं'

करता था जैसे बहुत ख़ुश को तुम 'कुछ मीठा हो जाए' कहा करती थी ।

विज्ञापनी भाषा की सारी चातुरी की ऐसी-तैसी कर हम वस्तुओं की जगह

ख़ुद को कितनी आसानी से नत्थी कर लेते थे और हमारी ख़ुशी ने उस बेहोश वक़्त में

'प्रेम न हाट बिकाय' कभी हम पर ज़ाहिर नहीं होने दिया ।

जबकि तुम जिन वज़हों से सुन्दर और क़रीबतर थीं उन वजहों की कोई भाषा नहीं ।

एक यह भी सही

देख कर तुम्हें कभी यह नहीं लगा कि तुम्हारी उजली हँसी पर प्रेम की वह छाया भी पड़ती है जो तुम्हें चुप और उदास बनाती है और मुझे उन सब अभिनेय भूमिकाओं के लिए धीरे से तैयार, जो अक्सर त्रिकोण उभरने पर कुछ कम हीरो के हिस्से बदी होती है । एक तो अभिनय के इस अच्छेपन में मेरा यकीन नहीं दूसरे मैं इस नियति को बहुत शक्की निगाह से देखता हूँ । देखने के इस सयाने, बचकाने या बेढंग ने 'जो पसंद है सो पसंद है' की दलील पर मेरा ऐतबार ही बढ़ाया और इससे कुछ हो न हो कहानी के दो एकांत नहीं रह गए । तीसरा एकांत मेरे मन का अहाता है जिसकी चौहद्दी पर तुम्हारा यह अफ़सोस फ़िलहाल ठिठक गया है कि 'हम अक्सर उसे क्यों चाहने लगते हैं जो पहले से किसी और के प्यार में मुब्तिला रहता है'. मैं इसमें प्रेजेंट इम्परफेक्ट टेंस का एक वाक्य घटित होने से ज़्यादा कुछ देख नहीं पाता और इसी कमनज़री से अपने कोने में आबाद हूँ । जैसे त्रिकोण में कहीं तुम हो. जैसे दुनिया में हर शै है । वह भैया होगा जिसके साथ तुम भाग जाना चाहती हो । अब इतना कुछ अजीबोगरीब ढंग से पैबस्त है जीवन में तो एक यह भी सही ।

कवि अनुराग यहाँ मिलेंगे

Courtesy- कविता कोश

Chittagong (film)

The film Chittagong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chittagong_%28film%29)

was screened at MIT recently. The screening was followed by a Q&A session

with the director, Bedabrata Pain. Hats off to ex-NASA scientist, Pain, on

his directorial debut.

Chittagong is about the Chittagong (Chottogram) revolutionaries Surya Sen

(Master da), Nirmal Sen, Pritilata Waddedar, Kalpana Dutt, Gautam Ghosh,

Loknath Bal, Anant Singh and the 50+ students (aged 14-20) who left school

to take up arms in the uprising. We see much of the film through the lens

of 14 yr. old Jhunku (Subodh Roy). We get to see the real Subodh Roy in a

clip from a 2006 interview (in his hospital deathbed; he died 2 weeks after

the interview).

The film is very different from your typical Bollywood one, and is shot

with a washed-out look, the diffused lighting giving Jhunku the wondrous

look of an impressionable boy. In Bedo’s words, he used a “shallow depth of

field to get Jhunku’s eyes to face you directly.” The film was not shot in

Chittagong (now in Bangladesh) but in a place called Latagudi in the N. W.

Bengal countryside. The photography, sound (no dubbing) and music (Bolo Na

based on Raag Bageshri by Shankar Mahadevan) are all well done.

I liked that the film takes no liberty with historical facts (it is a

feature film and not a documentary). This is an uprising many of us in the

audience knew little about.  Bedo opined that it was an event that must be

told to future generations (“there must be a re-telling of South Asian

history”), and correctly, not as the Easter Rebellion it came to be known

as because of a British Raj coinage stemming from an internal memo (the

uprising was ‘home grown’, with little influence from the events in

Ireland).  Pritilata Waddedar, Kalpana Dutta grew up strongly influenced by

the likes of Rani of Jhansi. Women in traditional roles - housewives –

participated by donating their jewellery for the cause and sewed uniforms

for the boys and men.

Someone in the audience asked why he had not shown any Muslims in the

group. Bedo said that this was a primarily educated middle-class Hindu

group. However, the villages where Master da was in hiding for 3 years, had

a Muslim demographic, and without their protection, he would not have

lasted that long (I read somewhere that it was his own uncle who betrayed

him to the British for Rs. 10,000). In fact, sending Ahsanullah as CID in

charge was a calculated divisive move by the British; he is shown in the

film to spread anti-Hindu sentiments to the poor Muslims in the surrounding

villages).

 There was also a discussion on the ethics of recruiting 14 and 15 yr.

olds, all of whom were academically very good and with promising futures)

for the cause.

If there is one criticism of the film, it is that almost no mention is made

of events going on in the other parts of the country. There is a brief

scene at the outset where the students have joined the protestors on the

streets in 1929 over Jatin Das’ death whilst in captivity in Lahore jail,

one where Jhunku has secretly acquired the banned book “Pother Dabi”

(Sharat Chandra Chatterjee), a fleeting mention of the Gaddar Party

activists who are also sent to the Penal Colony in the Andamans the same

time Jhunku is.

The film has an uplifting ending, showing a shift from a small movement to

the mass Tebhaga movement with the stirring song “Ishan” playing in the

background.

-- Jaya

Courtesy- docuwallahs2

Click here for Chittagong (film)

Farewell Sachin

The following is the full text of Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell address at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Saturday.

“All my friends, settle down, let me talk. I will get more and more emotional. My life, between 22 yards for 24 years, it is hard to believe that the wonderful journey has come to an end, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank people who have played an important role in my life. Also, for the first time in my life I am carrying this list, to remember all the names in case I forget someone. I hope you understand. It’s getting a little bit difficult to talk but I will manage.

Tribute to parents

“The most important person in my life, and I have missed him a lot since 1999 when he passed away, my father. Without his guidance, I don’t think I would have been standing here in front of you. He gave me freedom at the age of 11, and told me that [I should] chase my dreams, but make sure you do not find short cuts. The path might be difficult, but don’t give up, and I have simply followed his instructions. Above all, he told me to be a nice human being, which I will continue to do and try my best. Every time I have done something special [and] showed my bat, it was [for] my father.

“My mother, I don’t know how she dealt with such a naughty child like me. I was not easy to manage. She must be extremely patient. For a mother, the most important thing is that her child remains safe and healthy and fit. That was what she was most bothered and worried about. She took care of me for the last 24 years that I have played for India, but even before that she started praying for me the day I started playing cricket. She just prayed and prayed and I think her prayers and blessings have given me the strength to go out and perform, so a big Thank You to my mother for all the sacrifices.

“In my school days, for four years, I stayed with my uncle and aunt because my school was quite far from my home, and they treated me like their son. My aunt, after having had a hard day’s play, I would be half asleep and she would be feeding me food so I could go again and play next day. I can’t forget these moments. I am like their son and I am glad it has continued to be the same way.

“My eldest brother, Nitin, and his family, have always encouraged me. My eldest brother doesn’t like to talk much, but the one thing he always told me is that ‘whatever you do, I know you will always give it 100 per cent, and that I have full faith and confidence in you’. His encouragement meant a lot to me. My sister, Savita, and her family, was no different. The first cricket bat of my life was presented to me by my sister. It was a Kashmir willow bat. But that is where the journey began. She is one of those many who still continue to fast when I bat, so thank you very much.

Brother’s role

“Ajit, my brother, now what do I talk about him? I don’t know. We have lived this dream together. He was the one who sacrificed his career for my cricket. He spotted the spark in me. And it all started from the age of 11 when he took me to Achrekar sir, my coach, and from there on my life changed. You will find this hard to believe but even last night he called me to discuss my dismissal, knowing that there was a remote chance of batting again, but just the habit we have developed, the rapport we have developed, since my birth, has continued and it will continue. Maybe when I’m not playing cricket we will still be discussing technique.

“Various things we agreed upon, my technique, and so many technical things which I didn’t agree with him, we have had arguments and disagreements. If that hadn’t happened, I would have been a lesser cricketer.

“The most beautiful thing happened to me was in 1990 when I met my wife, Anjali. Those were special years and it has continued and will always continue that way. I know Anjali, being a doctor; had a wonderful career in front of her. When we decided to have a family, Anjali took the initiative to step back and say that you continue with your cricket and I will take the responsibility of the family.

“Without that, I don’t think I would have been able to play cricket freely and without stress. Thanks for bearing with all my fuss and all my frustrations, and all sorts of rubbish that I have spoken. Thanks for bearing with me and always staying by my side through all the ups and downs. You are the best partnership I’ve had in my life.

“Then, the two precious diamonds of my life, Sara and Arjun. They have already grown up. My daughter is 16, my son is 14. Time has flown by. I wanted to spend so much time with them on special occasions like their birthdays, their annual days, their sports day, going on holidays, whatever. I have missed out on all those things. Thanks for your understanding. Both of you have been so, so special to me you cannot imagine. For 14-16 years I have not spent enough time with both of you, but I promise you [that] the next 16 years or even beyond that, everything is for you.

“My in-laws, Anand Mehta and Annabelle, both have been so, so supportive [and] loving and caring. I have discussed on various things in life, generally with them, and have taken their advice. You know, it’s so important to have a strong family who is always with you and who are guiding you. Before you start clapping, the most important thing they did was allowing me to marry Anjali, so thank you very much.

“In the last 24 years that I have played for India I have made new friends, and before that I have had friends from my childhood. They have all had a terrific contribution. As and when I have called them to come and bowl to me at the nets, they have left their work aside to come and help me. Be it joining me on holidays and having discussions with me on cricket, or how I was a little stressed and wanting to find a solution so I can perform better. All those moments my friends were with me. Even when I was injured, I would wake up in the morning because I couldn’t sleep and thought that my career was over because of injuries. That is when my friends who have woken up at 3 o’clock in the morning would come to drive with me and make me believe that my career was not over. Life would be incomplete without all those friends. Thanks for being there for me.

Coach’s contribution

“My cricket career started when I was 11. The turning point of my career was when my brother [Ajit] took me to Achrekar sir. I was extremely delighted to see him up in the stands. Normally he sits in front of the television and watches all the games that I play. When I was 11 or 12, those were the days when I used to hop back on his scooter and play a couple of practice matches a day. The first half the innings I would be batting at Shivaji Park, the second half, at some other match in Azad Maidan. He would take me all over Mumbai to make sure I got match practice.

“On a lighter note, in the last 29 years, sir has never ever said well played to me because he thought I would get complacent and I would stop working hard. Maybe he can push his luck and wish me now, well done on my career, because there is no more matches, sir, in my life. I will be witnessing cricket, and cricket will always stay in my heart, but you have had an immense contribution in my life, so thank you very much.

“My cricket for Mumbai started right here on this ground, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), which is so dear to me. I remember landing from New Zealand at four o’clock in the morning, and turning up for a game here at eight o’clock just because I wanted to be a part of Mumbai cricket, and not that somebody forced me. That was for the love of Mumbai cricket, and thank you very much. The president is here so thank you very much, along with your team, for taking care of me and looking after my cricket.

“The dream was obviously to play for India, and that is where my association with BCCI started. BCCI was fantastic, right from my debut they believed in my ability and selecting me into the squad at the age of 16 was a big step, so thanks to all the selectors for having faith in me and the BCCI for giving me the freedom to express myself out in the middle. Things would have been different if you had not been behind me, and I really appreciate your support. Especially when I was injured, you were right with me and making sure that all the treatments were taken care of, and that I got fit and fine and playing [right] back for India.

“The journey has been special, the last 24 years, I have played with many senior cricketers, and even before that there were many senior cricketers whom I watched on television. They inspired me to play cricket, and to play in the right way. Thanks to all those senior cricketers, and unfortunately I have not been able to play with them, but I have high regards for all their achievements and all their contributions.

“We see it on the mega-screen, Rahul, Laxman, Sourav, and Anil, who is not here, and my team-mates right here in front me. You are like my family away from home. I have had some wonderful times with you. It is going to be difficult to not be part of the dressing room, sharing those special moments. All the coaches for their guidance, it has been special for me. I know when M.S. Dhoni presented me the 200th Test match cap on day one morning. I had a brief message for the team. I would like to repeat that. I just feel that all of us are so, so fortunate and proud to be part of the Indian cricket team and serving the nation.

“Knowing all of you guys, I know you will continue to serve the nation in the right spirit and right values. I believe we have been the lucky ones to be chosen by the Almighty to serve this sport. Each generation gets this opportunity to take care of this sport and serve it to the best of our ability. I have full faith in you to continue to serve the nation in the right spirit and to the best of your ability, to bring all the laurels to the country. All the very best.

Support staff

“I would be failing in my duties if I did not thank all the doctors, the physios, the trainers, who have put this difficult body together to go back on the field and be able to play. The amount of injuries that I have had in my career, I don’t know how you managed to keep me fit, but without your special efforts, it would never have happened. The doctors have met me at weird hours. I mean I have called them from Mumbai to Chennai, Mumbai to Delhi, I mean wherever. They have just taken the next flight and left their work and families to be with me, which has allowed me to play. So a big Thank You to all three of you for keeping me in good shape. My dear friend, late Mark Mascarenhas, my first manager. We unfortunately lost him in a car accident in 2001, but he was such a well-wisher of cricket, my cricket, and especially Indian cricket. He was so passionate. He understood what it takes to represent a nation and gave me all the space to go out and express myself, and never pressurised me to do this ad or promotion or whatever the sponsors demanded. He took care of that and today I miss him, so thank you Mark for all your contribution.

“My current management team, WSG, for repeating what Mark has done, because when I signed the contract I exactly told them what I want from them, and what it requires to represent me. They have done that and respected that. Someone who has worked closely with me for 14 years is my manager, Vinod Nayudu. He is more like my family and all the sacrifices, spending time away from his family for my work, has been special, so big Thank You to his family as well for giving so much time for my work with Vinod. In my school days, when I performed well, the media backed me a lot. They continue to do that till this morning. Thank you so much to the media for supporting and appreciating my performances. It surely had a positive effect on me. Thank you so much to all the photographers as well for those wonderful captured moments that will stay with me for the rest of my life, so a big Thank You to all the photographers.

“I know my speech is getting a bit too long [crowd roars], but this is the last thing I want to say. I want to thank all the people here who have flown in from various parts of the world, and have supported me endlessly, whether I scored a 0 or a 100-plus. Your support was so dear to me and meant a lot to me. Whatever you have done for me.

“I know I have met so many guys who have fasted for me, prayed for me, done so much for me. Without that life wouldn’t have been like this for me. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, and also say that time has flown by rather quickly, but the memories you have left with me will always be with me forever and ever, especially ‘Sachin, Sachin’ which will reverberate in my ears till I stop breathing.

“Thank you very much. If I have missed out on saying something, I hope you understand. Goodbye.” 

Courtesy- http://www.thehindu.com

Outtakes: Luis Bunuel / Srikanth Srinivasan

WHO is he?

Provocative Spanish-born filmmaker and scenarist who directed over 30 films — most of them now hallowed works of world cinema — in a five-decade career between the 20s and the 70s. Buñuel is considered the father of cinematic Surrealism and his first work Un Chien Andalou (1929), which he made along with Salvador Dali, is a veritable rallying cry for the notorious movement. His films Viridiana (1961) and Belle du Jour (1967) won the top prizes at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals respectively.

WHAT are his films about?

Themes

Taking off from Freud’s idea of repressed drives, the Surrealists, including Buñuel, attacked the sanitised morality of sterile, institutionalised art and instead set out to give full play to the primal forces lurking underneath quotidian life. The hypocrisy, artificiality and complacence of middle-class life and the moral corruption of religion are themes that are omnipresent in Buñuel’s body of work and are fiercely attacked through both irreverent humour and radical film grammar.

WHAT are his films about?

Style

Buñuel’s early Surrealist films are founded on the movement’s principle of disrupting the apparent normalcy of everyday life. These films broke the rational narrative logic of what it discredited as “bourgeois cinema”, supplanting with the logic of the unconscious. Though he disassociated himself from the movement later, Buñuel still maintained his iconoclastic approach to film narrative and scrupulously avoided the clichés of popular and arthouse cinema. Interruption of conventional narrative logic on an ideological basis is the most characteristic stylistic element of Buñuel’s cinema.

WHY is he of interest?

The many dimensions of Buñuel as a filmmaker — Buñuel the satirist, the documentarian, the neorealist, the chamber dramatist — continue to be a source of immense interest and inspiration for filmmakers and fans alike. As important is Buñuel the entertainer, whose movies are instant crowd-pleasers that nonetheless never compromise their political commitment or formal rigour. In that sense, these films are genuinely subversive works that critique the cultural system they are embedded in from within.

WHERE to discover him?

The Exterminating Angel (1962) works off a patently absurd premise: a group of dinner invitees finds itself unable to exit the house even when the door is wide open. Buñuel’s deliciously implausible, completely hilarious film is a virulent attack on the synthetic social conventions of the middle-class and demonstrates the essential irrationality of all human action.

Courtesy- http://www.thehindu.com

Outtakes: Jean-Pierre Melville / Srikanth Srinivasan

WHO is he?

French film director, producer and scenarist who made 13 feature films between the late forties and the early seventies. During his association with the French underground resistance movement against the Nazi occupation of France, Melville (born Grumbach) borrowed the name of American author Herman Melville, of whom he was a great admirer, and later decided to continue to use it as his screen name.

WHAT are his films about?

Themes

Melville’s involvement in the resistance movement had a deep impact on his filmmaking career and several of his films directly deal with French underground resistance during occupation. These films are marked by moods of post-war disaffectedness, existential weariness, melancholia and lyrical fatalism. He was influenced both by the gangster movies of America as well as the Samurai culture of Japan, which are singularly synthesised in his films. His characters are bona-fide loners, just out of reach of society and love, living by their own rules and moral codes.

Style

The most characteristic element of Melville’s cinema is the iconography of Hollywood gangster films — trench coats, fedora hats and pistols — combined with a detached, dispassionate acting style. His films demonstrate an influence of cinema vérité and are shot on the streets in a mixture of long and medium shots. Numerous stretches of the narrative take place at night, which accentuates the sense of loneliness — chosen or otherwise — of the characters.

WHY is he of interest?

Melville appropriated Hollywood film noirs but transformed and transported them onto a whole new level, introducing philosophical and political edge to template narratives. Direct influence of his cinema can be seen in the works of numerous current day filmmakers such as Takeshi Kitano, Jim Jarmusch, Johnnie To, Quentin Tarantino and Michael Mann. Even outside his own work, Melville had a vital role to play in the birth of the French New Wave.

WHERE to discover him?

Le Samourai (1967), the most widely known of all Melville films, details the life of a lonesome hitman who lives and falls by the samurai code of honour. Played impassively and strikingly by Alain Delon, the assassin is the quintessential Melville character traversing the busy streets of Paris with little attachment to the universe around him and with a world view and work ethic only he comprehends.

Courtesy- http://www.thehindu.com

‘You’ve to love a story with passion to make a movie’

Costa-Gavras, the 80-year-old filmmaker who grew up in Greece and has lived in France for most of his life, may not be fluent in English but is articulate to the point when it comes to his craft and his philosophy. While in Mumbai to receive the International Lifetime Achievement Award at the 15th Mumbai Film Festival (October 17-24), where several of his influential films were screened, he sat down for an interview with Sudhish Kamath and spoke on cinema and politics. Excerpts:

 

Congratulations on the award. How do you, as an active filmmaker, respond to ‘Lifetime Achievement’ awards? Do they make you wonder if you are supposed to retire now?

It’s like, you’ve done enough, now stay at home [laughs]. But I think it also encourages me to make more movies. There’s honour... and intense emotion, to know that an important festival like the Mumbai Film Festival gives you this award.

Everyone must be asking you if you’ve watched Shanghai, the Indian adaptation of your classic, Z? Did you hear about it... or see it?

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen it. But yes, they did approach me for the rights and I told them to approach the author of the novel.

You don’t seem too impressed with Bollywood.

When I see films, I get to see more vision. All the films [in Hindi] are essentially Bollywood. Since [Satyajit] Ray, there’s no other cinema, apart from Bollywood, that has made its way around the world. There’s a disconnect because we don’t understand these films. But the perception is that Bollywood makes these huge productions that are about choreography... musicals. I liked some. Some I didn’t like.

You mean we don’t make political films?

Even this [cinema] is political because it doesn’t say anything.

Do you feel there’s a sensibility disconnect between European art, American pop and Indian kitsch?

Every culture has a sensibility. It is important to not judge another country’s culture [comparing it] with your culture. Culture is permanent. I like to discover and understand culture every time I visit a new country, through its food, its music, then film and theatre. The problem is that these [Bollywood and American] films offer entertainment, but these are movies with no real problems. Shakespeare is entertainment, Sophocles is entertainment. Moliere is entertainment. But they all told us something about the culture.

Art has to say something about society and its problems. In ancient Greece, they used to say that the role of theatre and art was... Psychagogia. That means [art has to] guide your soul. People believe in cinema because it’s the most popular art form in the world that goes from one country to another.

Who in your opinion are the villains of our society? Do you still see the system to be all-powerful and corrupt?

The bad guys today are ourselves. Because of the choices we are making. There are people wielding big power, and the way they deal with it makes us miserable or makes us happy. Hollywood is going through a bad phase [with comic book adaptations and sequels] because they make films like a football game.

Do you see technology playing a role in the politics of today?

Technology can be good or bad. It is a system... like capitalism or communism, but we have to find a balance to survive. Right now there is no balance, capitalism is in triumph. With no other system to challenge it, the world is going through its biggest economic crisis. Any system has to be controlled or kept in check, and be organised for people to be happy and have a good life. But we see more and more poor people. Once upon a time, the middle class must have been very large. Today, it’s shrinking. We need another system to challenge the capitalist way of life. I don’t know what that system could be. The other problem we have is of education and control in the wrong hands. We have seen the best and the worst. We have seen wars, massacres — and also extraordinary solutions with technology.

What tip would you give film-makers to make relevant political films, given the market realities?

Spend two or three years understanding the problem you want to deal with. You have to love a story with enough passion to make a movie. What is politics? It is the way we react every day with other people and how we respect the dignity of other people. It’s not just who we vote for. As the French philosopher Roland Barthes says, all films are political. You cannot take politics out of films because everyone is political.

If you had to vote for a corrupt party or a communal one, which would you vote for? Since you’re saying voting is a must.

It is a dilemma, but it is important to vote for the right person. There are a lot of right-wing people who are good. There are a lot of left-wing people who are good. There are good people in all parties. You have to vote for the right person. It is the same everywhere in the world. But it is important to vote. I think fanaticism is the worst, because there are people who want you to do what they believe. The important thing is to not force your opinion on others.

(The Correspondent’s visit to Mumbai for the Mumbai Film Festival, organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image, was a sponsored one.)

Courtesy- http://www.thehindu.com 

Defending his faith.../ Harsh Mander

 

Hansal Mehta’s Shahid — based on the life of human rights lawyer Shahid Azmi — is honest and free of bitterness and despair.

A film of outstanding ethical and political courage and humanity, Hansal Mehta’s Shahid is a riveting account of the true story of human rights lawyer, Shahid Azmi, who was shot dead for his beliefs in 2010. He was just 32.

Briefly radicalised as a young teenager by the Mumbai riots of 1992-93, he crossed the border to join a terrorist formation, but was quickly disillusioned and returned home. However, the police detained and tortured him and charged him with terror crimes, for which he spent seven years in Delhi’s Tihar Jail until he was ultimately acquitted of all charges by the Supreme Court.

Refusing either to lose hope or become embittered, he persisted with his college education during his years in prison, and emerged with a post-graduate degree. Despite his family’s strained means, he resolved after his discharge to study law. He worked for a short time with a senior lawyer, but left soon, unable to brook compromises with justice and truth that a large commercial legal firm entails, and instead established his own practice.

His legal practice was mainly devoted to defending Muslim youth unjustly charged with terror crimes, subjected — just as he had been — to torture and long hopeless years of incarceration. Paid little or nothing, he won many extraordinary acquittals for many innocent young men in several terror cases, bitterly contested by the State. He bravely persisted with his defence of those young men charged with terror crimes who he believed were innocent, despite many death threats. Ultimately he was gunned down by three assailants in his office room.

Shahid’s courage and optimism shine through the film. Mehta’s portrayal of his heroism — and Ram Yadav’s empathetic performance — are unusually low-key and therefore much more affecting, as are Shahid’s commitment to justice and the innocent accused. Shahid firmly rejects radicalism and is instead driven by conviction that India’s democratic institutions may delay justice but if you fight hard and doggedly, one day justice will indeed come your way.

For a man who spent seven years unjustly in prison, it is extraordinary that such faith in the creaky, flawed and ponderous institutions of criminal justice in India endured, and that he persisted with fighting through these institutions even though it cost him his life.

The film compels us to introspect if India’s democracy deserves the fierce belief and allegiance of valiant warriors for justice like Shahid, whom it so profoundly lets down.

The institutional prejudice of the legal system in fighting terror is depicted unflinchingly. There is harrowing portrayal of torture that Shahid undergoes in Delhi’s Lodi Road Police Station. The film disturbingly recreates — reportedly from several of the cases fought by Shahid — the creation of false evidence and witnesses to bolster the terror charges, and the open hostility of the public prosecutor towards the terror accused, which spills over sometimes to the lawyer fighting on their behalf. But there are also judges — faceless people in the huge judicial machine — who struggle to be humane and fair.

This is a film about justice, but also about love. Shahid’s bonds with his family are recreated with affection. In their cramped single-room slum home perched in an attic above a bakery, you encounter his mother, an imposing matriarch raising her three sons with an iron hand, and his elder brother who quietly sacrifices his own dreams and aspirations for his mother and siblings. It is his steady support that sustains Shahid through his turbulent life and trials, and he who enables him to realise his dreams. As with Shahid’s heroism, the love and support of his family and its sacrifices — again the staple of so much of Hindi cinema — are depicted with understatement and authenticity.

Over the years, I have met and worked with young men — in Godhra and Hyderabad — who like Shahid were charged falsely with terror crimes, incarcerated for long years, crushed by protracted opaque trials, not knowing if they will ever walk free. When they are finally acquitted, nothing can return or recompense their lost years, or erase memories of torture, wasted years behind prison walls, families battling stigma, penury and loneliness, interrupted studies, stolen youth, children forgetting the faces of their fathers, and broken lost dreams. Mehta’s film reminds us of all of this but, like its protagonist, while it is uncompromisingly honest it is remarkably free of bitterness and despair. In the luminous closing sequence of the film — which will stay etched long and deep in my memory — after Shahid’s murder, his college mate Ram stands before the same court, defending the same terror suspect for whose defence Shahid was felled.

Shahid reminds me of the words of another man in another continent who was felled for his beliefs, Martin Luther King Jr. “Never, never be afraid to do what is right,” he said, “Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our souls when we look away.” 

Courtesy- http://m.thehindu.com

राजेंद्र यादव (28 अगस्त,1929 – 28 अक्टूबर, 2013)

राजेन्द्र यादव के जाने से न सिर्फ हिंदी की कथा-विधा को आघात पहुंचा है, बल्कि साहसिक साहित्यिक पत्रकारिता की दिशा भी धुंधलके में खो गई लगती है।

उनके जैसे जिंदादिल, यारबाश, संजीदा और प्रखर रचनाकार-संपादक कम देखने को मिलते हैं। स्त्री विमर्श, दलित आंदोलन, सांप्रदायिकता जैसे विभिन्न साहित्यिक-सामाजिक मुद्दों पर अपनी टिप्पणियों और वक्तव्यों में वे जितने जुझारू थे, निजी जिंदगी में उतने ही विनोदी और खुले स्वभाव के। यही वजह है कि राजेंद्र यादव ने जब अपने उत्तर-काल में हंस पत्रिका का संपादन शुरू किया तो उन्हें बहुत बार विवादों का सामना करना पड़ा। मगर इसे भी वे सहज भाव से लेते थे। वे ऐसे संपादक थे जिन्होंने अपने विरोध में आई टिप्पणियों को सबसे अधिक जगह दी। हालांकि बाद के दिनों में उनकी पहचान हंस पत्रिका से अधिक जुड़ गई थी, पर आधुनिक हिंदी साहित्य में उनका अवदान इतना भर नहीं था। नई कहानी आंदोलन शुरू करने में उनका महत्त्वपूर्ण योगदान रहा। मोहन राकेश, कमलेश्वर और राजेंद्र यादव नई कहानी आंदोलन के अगुआ माने जाते हैं। जैनेंद्र और अज्ञेय ने स्त्री-पुरुष संबंधों पर कहानी की जो धारा विकसित की थी, मोहन राकेश, कमलेश्वर और राजेंद्र यादव की त्रयी ने उसे नए कलेवर, नए कोणों और नए शिल्प के साथ आगे बढ़ाया। स्त्री-स्वातंत्र्य राजेंद्र यादव की कहानियों और उपन्यासों का मुख्य स्वर था। इसके साथ-साथ उन्होंने भारतीय समाज और भारतीय संस्कृति की रूढ़िवादिता और विसंगतियों पर निर्भीकतापूर्वक चोट की। ‘सारा आकाश’ उपन्यास, जिस पर बासु चटर्जी ने इसी नाम से फिल्म बनाई, इसका पुख्ता प्रमाण है। उनका कथा साहित्य विपुल है। ‘उखड़े हुए लोग’, ‘शह और मात’, ‘अनदेखे अनजान पुल’, ‘मंत्रविद्ध’, ‘कुलटा’ आदि उपन्यासों और ‘खेल-खिलौने’, ‘छोटे-छोटे ताजमहल’, ‘जहां लक्ष्मी कैद है’, ‘किनारे से किनारे तक’ आदि कहानी संग्रहों के जरिए उन्होंने न सिर्फ स्त्री-पुरुष संबंधों को नई नजर से देखा, बल्कि समाज के हाशिये पर पड़े लोगों के जीवन से जुड़ी समस्याओं को भी संजीदगी से रेखांकित किया। चेखव, तुर्गनेव, अल्बेयर कामू आदि रचनाकारों की कृतियों का अनुवाद कर उन्होंने हिंदी कथा साहित्य को नई दिशा देने का प्रयास किया।

राजेंद्र यादव ने न सिर्फ खुद लिख कर कहानी विधा को समृद्ध किया, बल्कि वे नए रचनाकारों को भी इस दिशा में प्रोत्साहित करते थे। खासकर हंस का संपादन संभालने के बाद उन्होंने अनेक नवोदित कथाकारों में संभावनाओं की तलाश की, उन्हें तराशा, प्रोत्साहित किया और पहचान बनाने का मौका मुहैया कराया। उनके लिए नई कहानी आंदोलन को आगे बढ़ाने का यह भी एक रास्ता था। हंस के माध्यम से उन्होंने हिंदी में स्त्री विमर्श और दलित विमर्श का सिलसिला शुरू किया। अस्सी का दशक बीतते न बीतते उन्होंने पहली बार हिंदी साहित्य में दलित विमर्श की आहट सुनी थी। अब उनके उठाए दोनों विमर्श आंदोलन का रूप ले चुके हैं। साहित्य, समाज, राजनीति, अर्थनीति आदि विषयों पर वे बड़े दृढ़ और लोकतांत्रिक तरीके से सबकी सुनते और अपनी बात कहते थे। हंस में संपादकीय टिप्पणियां जहां विचारोत्तेजक होती थीं, वहीं उनकी प्रतिबद्धता और साहस की परिचायक भी। कई बार वे चीजों को नए ढंग से देखने के  लिए हिंदी के आलोचना जगत को उकसाते भी थे। ‘अतीत होती सदी और स्त्री का भविष्य’, ‘औरत: उत्तरकथा’, ‘कथाजगत की बागी मुसलिम औरतें’, ‘वह सुबह कभी तो आएगी’ आदि पुस्तकों के माध्यम से उन्होंने हिंदी समीक्षा को नई राह दिखाई, जो किन्हीं वजहों से संकुचित थी। उनके जाने से न सिर्फ हिंदी की कथा-विधा को आघात पहुंचा है, बल्कि साहसिक साहित्यिक पत्रकारिता की दिशा भी धुंधलके में खो गई लगती है।

Courtesy- http://www.jansatta.com