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Tag: movie

June 13, 2020

Gulabo Sitabo – common man in his full nakedness

by viggy — Categories: experience, social — Tags: , , , , — Leave a comment

I just finished watching the movie, “Gulabo Sitabo” few hours ago. This movie is definitely not the regular movie, it has many layers, many aspects which can become food for thought. One important aspect which hit me was how every character in the movie was as despicable as the other. You can very momentarily feel for someone in the movie before being disgusted by them again. Or atleast the story attempts to do the same. Another important aspect of the movie is the complete focus on the so called “common man” in the movie. Anything that does not relate to the common man is given very less attention in the movie, except at the end which shows the rich enjoying while the common man rejected after their petty fights amongst each other. This combination of the two aspects seems to be sending a very powerful message, it shows the disgusting behavior of the common man in full limelight. From stealing of items by the house owner to finding excuses to pay rent, it shows the complete lack of morality in common man. This same theme is extended to each and every character. The lawyer, the sister, the girl friend, the broker friend, the government servant, the dumb servant, each of them are only looking for their own benefit in each and every situation.

The word that keeps resounding of this behaviour is “Jugaad”. This 6 letter word has become the common man’s excuse of any wrongdoing to suit his or her selfish interest. What is worst, from excuse, it has become a matter of pride. That is why there is no remorse in any of the character even till the end and their lives go on. This lack of remorse and even acknowledgement of wrong doing is made very evident in the scene between Mirza and lawyer after they are thrown out from one of the Begum’s relatives house. When lawyer asks Mirza so to why everyone hates him, Mirza is surprised and says he did not notice any enmity. Guddo, Banke’s sister, also exemplifies this Jugaad behaviour. She tries to get herself a job within all the chaos by trying to sleep with the government officer and then goes and even works for the lawyer to try make some money as part of selling the haveli. She feels everything she is doing is ok and goes on about it. The broker friend of Mirza keeps giving him ideas while his interest lies in trying to sell the haveli to the builder. The government servant promises something to the tenants, does not show any sense of shame and uses his power to ignore them and continue with his lives.

In all, while many bollywood movies have been made to reflect the despicable behaviour of those with money, the upper class, like Corporate, Fashion, Rajneeti, this movie has completely focused on the common man’s despicable behaviour and how it is no different in the lives of common man and displays him in his full nakedness.

March 10, 2013

“Shatranj ke khiladi”

by viggy — Categories: experience, social — Tags: , , , , , , , — Leave a comment

Shatrank ke khiladi is a movie directed by Satyajit Ray and story is written by Munsi Premchand. Its about how two aristocrats enjoy playing the game of chess and completely forget their duties even while their own kingdom is taken over by British and their king surrenders.
Satyajit Ray is known to have made stories which are critical of the society and which depict the situation of poor and ignorance of middle class. At least that is what I felt after seeing his movie Pather Panchali.
Here the King is too involved in enjoying his royal stature and has no interests in governing or ruling the kingdom. He feels that he has been forced to become the king and since the people are not voicing against his rule, he continues to enjoy it. He has been keeping the East India Company happy and always ensured that he provides the necessary monetary help whenever required.
The aristocrats are too very involved in their game of chess and the peace with British makes them feel safe and hence they completely ignore their duties towards the state. They feel proud of their ancestors and hence are in a delusion that in case of any threat from British, they are well prepared to defend themselves. When the British actually decide to impose their rule on the kingdom and plan to overthrow the King, the aristocrats are fearful that they might have to join the war and hence decide to flee from the city and go and stay at a mosque outside the city. They talk to themselves as if they actual decide to flee only because they do not want to be disturbed while playing chess.
The people are introduced at the end of the movie. When the aristocrats go outside the city, they find from a local boy that all the people have ran away fearing the British soldiers and the boy himself has remained just because he wants to see how the British soldiers look like. He is too happy to serve the aristocrats and hope to make some money out of it.
Though this story is from an era much before the existence of a middle class per se in Indian society, the role of aristocrats or the ones who governed can be considered as middle class, the royal family being the upper class and the general public being the lower class.
A similar story is currently being played in Indian society. The government is too busy ensuring that they continue enjoying their royal stature and nothing destroys their rule. They have no interests in governing the country for the people as representatives of the people and hence are very happy ensuring that the Corporations are kept happy and nothing hampers their business.
The middle class is busy enjoying their games of chess and do not want to be disturbed by anything. They are too proud of their current status and how their ancestors worked hard to get there. Get a job, buy a flat, get married, go abroad, have kids, educate them to get a job and continue the same cycle again. Important social issues like caste discrimination, communal riots, growing inequality, child labor, health are all ignored.
The poor currently is running everywhere. Farmers are moving to cities, poor from cities are running abroad working hard to ensure that consumerism does not take over them.
Its amazing how the times have changed, the rulers have changed but the social structure has changed little and how we continue in enjoying the game of chess while the country is being taken over.

June 13, 2010

Rajneeti-Impressed but could have been better

by viggy — Categories: experience, Fun — Tags: , , — Leave a comment

After hearing mixed response from people about Rajneeti, I finally found some time to watch it. Though I hardly watch any hindi movies until I hear very good reviews about it, since this was about politics, I wanted to watch it. Strangely Politics and Underworld plots are the only movies that I like to watch in bollywood. Anyways so when I finally sat to watch the movie, I knew from the start that I had like it.
Overall I actually liked the plot. Story was very well written. The script had many instances taken from GODFATHER, like the one in which driver plants the bomb and runs away, keeping a dead body on the bed to threaten a person and also that a foreign returned son has to stay back as his father has been attacked . But many other instances were quite original and i liked it. Even those picked from GODFATHER were very well utilized and credit should be given to the script writer for that.
Characters for the film also was very well chosen and though there were big names in the movie, it was clearly not just to attract their fan followers. Ranbir again impressed me with his acting. Ajay and Nana have always done justice to such type of roles and this was nothing new for them. Among the characters, I was disappointed by the small role given to Naseeruddin Shah. He could definitely be utilized in a much better way. Also Nikhila Trikha, who played the role of Samar’s (Ranbir) mother did not do justice to her role. Especially,in the scene where she goes and talks to Suraj(Ajay Devgan), I could see nothing from her side in the scene. Though that scene had a very small significance in the overall story, but still that scene required much more from her. Why she was selected for the role still mystifies me but a explanation can be found here.

Throughout the story one point is very clear, Mango Man is a complete fool. With all the political drama happening around, Suraj, who was supposed to be representing the Mango Man clearly also becomes a politician and forgets his being a Mango Man. His roots being a Mango Man is again shown at the end where he does not join the side of Samar even when he is offered the highest seat. Also when Katrina comes forward and cries for the injustice done to her, Mango Man supports her and makes her win the election without realizing whether she is the right person for being a CM or whether she will be able to run the government for next 5 years. This is very much true in real life and I guess that is the main idea that Rajneeti wants to spread. Even though this is a democratic country, only members from the so called royal family are chosen as the right person for the royal seats. Also between the fight for seat in the royal family, it is the Mango Man who suffers but still supports the royal family. This can be clearly seen in Maharastra where the fight inside the Thackeray family is clearly the main reason for dividing Mumbai as a city for Maharastrians and not for Biharis.