Nury Bilge Ceylan

My daughter is not well and I am holed up at home—taking care of her. She is recuperating and I have put her on medicine and on strong dosage of 101 Dalmations and some Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Sad to note in today’s newspaper that Malaysian filmmaker Yasmin Ahmad (of Sepet) has died. Too young to die.

Just wanted to write down a few lines on the movies that I have seen in the past two weeks: Shortkut (Hindi) was a disaster. Enjoyed watching Satyajit Ray’s Mahanagar (had seen it before) and Nayak—the latter was very well-made (one of Uttam Kumar’s best performances; such nuanced acting) and provided an insightful look at acting (theatre vs film acting; and the price and privileges of fame, etc.). I just loved the concept of train journey that becomes a metaphor in the film.

Also watched the first few chapters from Antonioni’s The Red Dessert. Despite its apparent beauty and comment on industrial decadence, I could not connect with the characters.

The real discovery was the Turkish film director, Nury Bilge Ceylan. He was a photographer and that shows in his film Kasba—but he seems overwhelmed by his love for photography and the story gets neglected. It was his other film, The Clouds of May, that I absolutely loved (and ready to forgive the indulgences that he makes to capture light and darkness, silhouettes, shadows and landscapes). More than a film it looked like a creative non-fiction piece to me (complete with non-professional actors). If Naipaul was not a writer and if he were to be filmmaker, perhaps he would have made films like this (of course, they would have become more political).

Also watched Tarufautt’s Soft Skin which was delightful—can David Dhawan adapt it without being crude and over the top and with no songs?

And after a long wait, finally watched Werner Herzog’s Aguirre—The Wrath of God. I saw it as an allegory of pursuit of power and fame. It shows how one can lose his mind and everything else in such a pursuit. One needs madness to achieve something of great importance but that can well be an illusion that can demand all kind of sacrifices.

Pratidwandi/The Iran Situation

In Satyajit Ray's brilliant film, Pratidwandi (The Adversary), Siddartha (Dhritiman Chatterjee), a young man who idolizes Che Guevara, is desperate to find a job. Jobs are scarce in the 1960s and 70s India but this is also the age of rising feminism in the country. His glamorous younger sister has got a job (and is involved with her boss) but all his attempts at finding a job come to a naught. His mother asks him to find a job soon so that his sister could leave her scandalous job.

Siddartha's anger at the system accumulates as he is heaped with humiliation after humiliation in the process of finding a job. One day, after an unsavoury meeting with his sister's boss, he walks down a road in the city. He sees a scene of accident. A rich man's car, a Mercedes, has run over a poor girl. A mob pulls the driver out of the car and gives him a good thrashing. Siddartha looks at the car and the Mercedes car's logo leaps out at him as a symbol of wealth and injustice. He joins the mob to vent out his frustration against a system that has been built to serve the rich and the powerful.

When I read about the post-election Iran protests and saw images of young people shouting and burning stuff in the streets of Teheran, I remembered the Siddartha of Pratidwandi. Are the youth in Iran any different from him? The time and circumstances might be different, but isn't it the expression of the same internal rage against a system that has failed them, that has smothered their dreams?

Consider these words from an editorial:

... But after thirty years of the revolution, younger, educated and religiously-moderate generations can't be deluded anymore. These generations are seeking explanations for why they are culturally, religiously and politically suppressed. They want to know where their great Islamic republic is. Why unemployment and inflation rates are high and where did all the oil revenues go. That's why the current dissent is coming from inside Iran rather than anywhere else.

(Italics mine)

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I didn't see it until now but Swapan Dasgupta adds a twist to the tale (by introducing a class angle to the situation):

It is possible the angry young men and well-dressed women in Victoria Beckham sunglasses in Tehran - the only place where Mousavi outpolled Ahmadinejad - have different ideas. While Ahmadinejad supporters tend to be poor and socially conservative - more black chadors are seen at his rallies - Mousavi becomes a rallying point for all those who feel weighed down by the social illiberalism of the Ayatollahs. There is an emerging Facebook and Twitter generation in Iran which rues the curtailment of personal freedoms and yearns for the relatively more exciting lives enjoyed by their non-resident cousins. The fierce allergy of the theologians to the intermingling of the sexes is a particular irritation and there is exasperation that fun has been driven underground.

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Video: Satyajit Ray on his life and works

Shyam Benegal's famous documentary on Satyajit Ray is now available on Youtube. You can't miss it if you love Ray movies.

The Darjeeling Limited

Intrigued by the poster? Here's the dope.

Wes Anderson's road movie The Darjeeling Limited is about three brothers on a quest in India. It will be distributed by Fox Searchlight. The movie will open the New York Film Festival.

Following the death of their father and disappearance of their mother, three American brothers (Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman) take a journey through the vibrant and sensual landscapes of India to re-forge family bonds. The journey comes in a form of a train trip, all set up by the oldest brother, Francis (Wilson), who wishes to reconnect with his siblings. But when their behavior causes them to be kicked off the train, they are forced to learn much more about themselves and India than they ever expected.

I don't exactly remember the title but someone in Bollywood is also making a film with Darjeeling in the title. BTW, Satyajit Ray also made a film in Darjeeling, called Kanchenjungha. Apparently, Wes' movie is dedicated to his hero Ray:

The shooting of the movie took place mostly in India, the country which Anderson only knew through the work of filmmaker Satyajit Ray. Anderson is an admirer of Ray and considers him an inspiration for all of his past projects. But it is not only Anderson that finds Ray's work special; Ray is considered India's most important director, was voted the 25th greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly and won a special lifetime achievement award at the 1992 Academy Awards. While many Americans never heard of Satyajit Ray or his work, Anderson stated that Darjeeling Limited is a dedication to his hero.