3 Wonderful Animation Films from Hollywood

This year I am delighted as an animation film lover that 3 really beautiful Hollywood animation features were released at the Kolkata multiplexes. 'Wall - E' surely tops the list with being the most 'out of the box' kind of Hollywood film. Though I am a great fan of the previous Pixar hits, 'Ratatouille' and 'Finding Nemo', this is surely a film that is a must-see for all film-buffs. Director Andrew Stanton has created a sublime, captivating animation adventure that is surely going to feature in the textbooks of cinema.


'Horton Hears a Who!' is the other film that charmed me early this year. The simple delight of Dr Seuss fantasy is unmistakably imprinted in this adaptation. It is touching and utterly entertaining for all ages. Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Isla Fisher, Seth Rogen, Jesse McCartney, Carol Burnett are among the voice-cast members.


'Kung Fu Panda' is the third noteworthy animation offering from Hollywood. It has the Dreamworks magic working in its favour. The film is noteworthy, especially for its exquisite animation and the splendid ensemle voice-cast, which includes the likes of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Michael Clarke Duncan and Lucy Liu.

Moonstruck!

The moon has always been an object of fascination for me. Like all kids, I used to stare at the distant moon and imagine all kinds of fantastic tales with extra-terrestrial beings, fairies and fictional celestial entities. I used to think about the umpteen possibilities of romancing the moon, as in the lunar myths and legends that have been enthralling kids and adults alike, worldwide, for centuries.

Writing seems the perfect medium to translate and describe the various tales, phenomenons and transitions of life under the Moon, either from legend or truth.
Ancient & quasi-modern history, folk-lores, fables, religion and science-fantasies are replete with man's obsession with the moon. The phases of the moon have given birth to many a traditional belief or superstition in almost all the continents of the world. Obviously, for the child in me, the associations were not all comforting and romantic. Some were too scary for me too; the legend of the werewolves is definitely found to be the scariest of all, there have been many legends of werewolves throughout the centuries depicting human beings changing into werewolves by the light of the full moon. In my childhood, I could have almost sworn to have seen them in my room bathed in the light of the full moon, when left alone, in the company of my fertile imagination!


From ghosts to goblins, werewolves and phantoms to the present day hauntings in films and stories, from poems and songs to Loony tunes and just plain lunacy, the Moon's allure is an inescapable nightly drama for me. Despite the primordial, archetypal images, moon unleashes love and longing. The blend of wonderment and the nostalgia sets free a profound enchantment, an ecstatic joyous spirit of conquering the darkness, an overbearing confidence far more fulfilling than even the scientific knowledge or the celebration of man's glory in setting foot on the moon!

pics courtesy: yahoo

The hand-pulled rickshaws of Kolkata

Hand-pulled rickshaws were introduced in India in the early 1920’s from Far East, and they were adopted into the transport system by British colonisers. They have been described everywhere as so poorly designed that running them for a long time is likely to take a heavy toll on the health of the puller. In Kolkata, even in the twenty-first century, the hand-pulled rickshaws have been a matter of interest for all foreign tourists visiting Kolkata. These rickshaws are usually pulled by the migrant workers who just make a meagre living from them. In fact, these poor folks have been living a life of marginalised existence, on the fringes of penury for quite some time. Their plight has been a humanistic concern for long. Hence, their phasing out was evident; the only issue being when and how.

The hand-pulled rickshaw has been immortalised as a living symbol of Kolkata in films like 'City of Joy'. But due to the cause of concern for the well-being of the rickshaw-pullers, which would soon go off its roads with the state government deciding to replace them with other modes of transport. It was in August, 2005, that the West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee announced that as the hand-pulled rickshaws had long been considered 'inhuman' and that the practice did not exist anywhere else, a policy decision had been taken to take the hand-drawn rickshaw off the roads of Kolkata on humanitarian grounds. The farewell happened gradually, over eighteen months or so, amidst minor roars of protests, and token protests, and lip-service, given in a routine manner, on rehabilitating the poor rickshaw-pullers.
During Kolkata’s monsoon rains, when the streets are regularly flooded, rickshaws have been used widely, even for trips as short as across the street. The rickshaw-wallahs used to be busy during the sweltering months of spring and summer, when walking the streets seems a hellish ordeal. During these times, the Rickshaw Puller’s Union claims that its members earn approximately Rs. 100 per day, though this figure is almost surely exaggerated. I remember several trips down Lake Market, Gariahat, Minto Park, Ballygunge and Southern Avenue on a hand-pulled rickshaw, called 'taana rickshaa' in Bangla. During the cool days of late autum and winter, most rickshaw-wallahs would be seen sitting idle, clanking their dull-timbred bells against the wooden rails of the rickshaws in vain hope of attracting a passenger. Romantic sojourns along dark alleys on these modes of transport were not too uncommon, nor were the stray incidents of the rickshaws turning over, the passengers still firmly ensconced in the seats, while the rickshaw-puller would be seen hanging on to the side-bars, swaying up in the air till help arrived...... the only casualties might just be the hand-held belongings of the passengers. Such sights are now going to be a thing of the past. Scenes from a Kolkata that was.

Cinema Plus......

Cinema has always been my passion. I often tell my friends that I eat, breathe, dream, and live cinema. But cinema viewing took a whole new turn this year... I was never prepared for it.... But who knows, maybe it was meant to be....!!!

Why? Well, without getting to explicit about the whole thing, as I am extremely shy of unmasking the intimate experiences for all, even though I reveal pretty much about my favorites (which is nothing less than personal) here, on my blog.... I can just say that it became an eye-opener of sorts when I went to see 'Bachna Ae Haseeno' - a frothy rom-com at the Fame multiplex at South City, Kolkata, on August 19th, this year.
Why was it an eye-opener, it made me question the obvious..... some of the itriguing questions were as follows:
WHAT do I seek from cinema? What do I seek from Life? What makes me associate cinema with the immediate upheavals, the confusion and the hesitation that abound in my life? Is cine-viewing a catharsis of sorts? Can cinema be a substitute or a proxy for other urges, other fulfilling outlets or inlets? What has been the trigger for my passion for cinema? Is my appetite for cinema a cause for concern? Is it addictive to unhealthy proportions? Do I look for life-affirming experiences in or through cinema? Do I want reality to take its cues from the cinema that I endear? Do I want cinema to engender my living moments, my emotions, my life?

The Greatest Joy

The greatest joy - according to me - is to look at a cute baby that throws its charms to instantly make itself feel wanted & loved. Well, there are different theories explaining the irresistible baby charm. One of them is that nature makes them that way to ensure the survival of the species. Babies are so cute, cuddly, adorable! Human babies need a longer time span to develop and be socialized and it is therefore important for them to be liked by their parents or other adults around them. Being so cute works in their favor. But they bring such joy into our lives, we feel blessed in their cherished company. There is no prejudice or hatred or fear in a baby’s heart, nor does the child make value judgments. No one can possibly find a more accepting or complete person than a baby.

Persepolis

"Persepolis" is an animation film. But it is much more than just an animation film. Being a lover of animation films, I grabbed the first opportunity I got to see this much acclaimed movie at the Fame Multiplex the day before yesterday, and I was pleasantly rewarded. It is the poignant coming-of-age story of a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It is through the eyes of precocious and outspoken nine year old Marjane that we see a people's hopes dashed as fundamentalists take power - forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands. Clever and fearless, she outsmarts the "social guardians" and discovers punk, ABBA and Iron Maiden. Yet when her uncle is senselessly executed and as bombs fall around Tehran in the Iran/Iraq war, we can very well feel the daily fear that permeates regular life in Iran.






As she gets older, Marjane's boldness causes her parents to worry over her continued safety. And so, at age fourteen, they make the difficult decision to send her to school in Austria. Vulnerable and alone in a strange land, she endures the typical ordeals of a teenager. In addition, Marjane has to combat being equated with the religious fundamentalism and extremism she fled her country to escape. Over time, she gains acceptance, and even experiences love, but after high school she finds herself alone and horribly homesick. After a heart-break, she feels completely ravaged, and then she comes back to Iran. But Iran had been crumbling all along, ravaged by senseless wars & destruction, and that includes the attacks on the society's moral & cultural fibre.
Like all women, she has to don the veil and live in a tyrannical society, the only comfort is being with her family members, her parents and her spunky grandma yet again! After a difficult period of adjustment, she enters art school and even marries, rather hastily. However, all the while she continues to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age 24, she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian, she cannot live in Iran. She then makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her homeland for France, optimistic about her future, shaped indelibly by her past.


Marjane Satrapi's brilliant autobiographical graphic novels "Persepolis: the Story of a Childhood" and "Persepolis 2: the Story of a Return" (which I never had a chance to read) had won widespread acclaim in France, even before they were made into this film. She has herself directed this filmed memoir, alongwith Vincent Paronnaud. In the dubbed-in-English version that I saw, the voice cast includes Sean Penn, Iggy Pop and Gena Rowlands, alongwith Catherine Deneuve and Marjane Satrapi. Olivier Bernet's original score is amazingly beautiful. And the stunning black & white visuals (when the liberating colours are shown in the opening and the closing sequences, they have such a powerful impact!) have stayed with me, and will surely be etched in my memory for good.

Endnote:
The title "Persepolis" comes from the Persian capital founded in the 6th century BC by Darius I, later destroyed by Alexander the Great. It's a reminder that there's an old and grand civilization, besieged by waves of invaders but carrying on through milennia, that is much deeper and more complex than the current-day view of Iran as a monoculture of fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism.
[courtesy: movies.yahoo.com, imdb.com, google.com, wikipedia.org)

The Best on World Movies

MAGONIA (2001) is a quietly affecting film about the power of story telling, by Ineke Smits. Every week, a son visits his father living on a small flat island in the North Sea. Surrounded by the endless horizon of the ocean, the two spend much of the day on the beach. The son listens in rapt fascination as the father tells him tall tales from the magical land of Magonia. In one, a woman who cares for a elderly Muslim crier falls in love with one of his young apprentices. In another, an unhappy couple meets an old man accompanied by an older man, sparking renew warm in the couple's marriage. And the final tale concerns a woman waiting in a harbor for her lover to return after a particularly vicious gale. As the father tells these stories, the son begins to see his father's frailties and passions. The film stars Ramsey Nasr, Dirk Roofthoot, Willem Voogd, Nodar Mgaloblishvili and many others.



A SPECIAL DAY [Una giornata particolare] (1977) is the best film I have seen on World Movies. It stars Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni and John Vernon, as well as a special cameo appearance by Alessandra Mussolini, and was directed by Ettore Scola. The occasion is the first meeting between Mussolini and Hitler. Left alone in her tenement home, when her fascist husband runs off to attend the historic event, Sophia Loren strikes up a friendship with her homosexual neighbor Mastroianni. As the day segues into night, Loren and Mastroianni develop a very special relationship that radically alters both of their outlooks on life.

World Cinema - now at home!

World cinema, i.e. films made in foreign languages, not the Hollywoodian fare though, have always been so difficult to view, especially for the common Indian viewers. Other than the festival circuit (for us Kolkatans, the Kolkata Film Festival is the biggest film event to showcase World Cinema), the films which are appreciated for their content, themes, sensibility and which convey so much in terms of their socio-cultural milieu, have by and large eluded us - as far as the mainstream sharing space was concerned. UTV World Movies has finally been the answer to our prayers..... seeking quality films from all over the world, on our television screens.... and it promises to fill the void.

The television channel, World Movies, has been screening films in diverse languages (with English sub-titles, of course), such as French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Cantonese, Thai, Polish, Persian, Japanese, Russian and English. It is India’s only international movie channel, and is owned by the UTV Network. Interestingly, the line-up of movies include those that are contemporary, glamorous, award-winning classics and even the box-office successes.

World cinema has an unofficial implication of films with "artistic value" as opposed to "Hollywood commercialism." Foreign language films are often grouped with "art house films" and other independent films in DVD stores or on cinema listings. UTV World Movies has attempted to change that mindset. Furthermore, foreign language films that cross cultural boundaries, particularly where the visual spectacle and the style is sufficient to overcome the lay viewer's misgivings, have been emphasized upon. This will surely garner the initial viewership base.

I have been lucky enough to catch some really engaging films on the World Movies channel, and they are:

Magonia (Dutch)

Cleopatra (Spanish)

Machuka (Spanish)

Viva Cuba (Spanish)

Blessed by Fire (Spanish)

Secrets and Lies (English; UK)

The Mission (English; UK)

Karnaval (French)

Stolen Kisses (French)

Swindled (Spanish)

My Girl (Thai)

Scorchers (English; UK)

The Hidden (Spanish)

Finally Sunday (French)

Rendez-vous (French)

The Last Metro (French)

A Special Day (Italian)

Your Name is Justine (Polish)

The 'Dus Ka Dum' Andaz

The fourth of July, 2008, was a memorable night for the viewers of Indian television, as we got to see Aamir Khan feature on the reality show 'Dus Ka Dum', alongwith Imran, his nephew. The remarkable feat for the channel (Sony Entertainment Television) was to get the ever reclusive Aamir Khan on the show which is hosted by Salman Khan, his contemporary and often labelled as his 'rival' (by the media, of course).
Salman, Aamir and Imran seemed to have a ball at the show, which hadn't exactly been the favorite on the popularity charts. But things took a drastic turn that night as it attracted eyeballs from all over of the world, wherever the satellite channel has had its reach, as viewers were keen to see the chemistry between the Khan biggies Aamir and Salman return on the visbility radar, after a really long time!
It was an all-smiles-affair as the trio went on to play the game ‘Dus Ka Dum’. The Aamir and Salman bonding, however, remained the highlight of the special episode.
We were reminded of the ‘Andaz Apna Apna’ days when we saw Aamir & Salman on a buoyant cycle-sharing ride. While the ‘Jaane Tu.. ya jaane na’ debutant Imran Khan smiled and obliged to remain on the sidelines, the limelight being duly shared by the two biggies, he must have won many a young fan for himself as his manners, and charm were just perfect.

I sincerely wish that we get to see Aamir and Salman share screen space yet again ('Andaz Apna Apna' was way back in 1994), maybe thius time in an intensely dramatic film (unlike the zany, mad caper that 'Andaz Apna Apna' was!)...... the two of you do have a great buddy chemistry!

Cinema - Small, but Beautiful

Cinema - as we have known the medium through the ages - has undergone a sea-change over the years, and reasonably so. Other than evolving, there are thin chances of survival; hence changes are obvious, changes have to be welcomed.
The Youtube Screening Room is a revolutionary concept that promises to take filmviewing forward by one giant leap! The digital techmology has come to be the mainstay of the 21st century. There has been an ever-increasing demand for tools that democratise cinema.
Often the biggest challenge for the makers has been getting their films seen by audiences worldwide.
For a very long time, the distribution network for smaller films didn't exist, the distribution of films had to be executed through the dissolution of so many hurdles that it became impossible for the filmmakers to look beyond a target set of audience and a defined market, which again has its own limiting logistics, and is a prime opponent to creativity.
Reaching to a wider audience, connecting with the audience on a lucid & transparent basis has been now made possible to quality short films from around the world on Youtube.
A film that is literally made on a shoe-string budget of ten dollars can now compete with that made with the studio support or big finances, on a level playing field. It is really encouraging for us film buffs to learn that the barriers to entry have been lowered so drastically.
There is this promise of a new dawn, with cinema, albeit on a short scale, from around the world finding the audience they deserve..... I am so excited, and am sure there are millions like me.
The more important films, more important filmmakers will now be able to establish a dialogue with the viewers.
The small but beautiful world of cinema is definitely going to gift us some genuine gems that have the potential of becoming the conversation starter. The miniature classics can now seek audience beyond festivals. Cinema-lovers can form online communities to rally round these talented makers and support them in their endeavours.
Cinema empowers, and it is also high time that the Internet helps empower the creators in this manner.
Youtube promises to throw open its doors to cinema of all kinds, all dimensions; from utterly profound to utterly profane; a great film of any length, any budget can hope to play on one's computer screen, with just the click of a mouse.

Courtesy: The Youtube Screening Room
(launch video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8oHN6Hi6bc

Experience the magic of cinema on Youtube
http://youtube.com/ytscreeningroom

The Hills Aren't Alive with the Sound of Music!!!

Darjeeling is again in the news. For all the wrong reasons!

Darjeeling has been voted, time & again, one of the most popular tourist destinations of the country. Yet Darjeeling has been the hot-bed of disruptive politics from the fag end of the last century.

Looking back:

Darjeeling has been popularly known as the Queen of the Hills, and the name itself has two very important associations. The first of them is the famous Darjeeling Tea, one of the finest varieties of tea that is produced here, and the other is the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a world heritage site. Mount Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world, is very close to darjeeling, from where one can get a very clear view of the same. Satyajit Ray, the master filmaker, had filmed his first colour feature film 'Kanchanjangha' in Darjeeling and the place had been an integral part of the screenplay, supplying a superb atmospheric. In the recent past, Darjeeling has also gained popularity to young tourists from around the world on account of White Water Rafting, an intense adventure sport.

The three hilly subdivisions of Darjeeling disrict are Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. Darjeeling, the Queen of Hill Stations, owes its eminence to the British, who built the Eden Sanatorium here in the early 19th century. The name Darjeeling is derived from the Tibetan Dorje-ling of the Thunderbolt Dorji. Some, however, believe that it was the thunderbolt of Lord Indra, the ruler of the skies. In 1839, when the East India Company took over Darjeeling, situated in the Himalayas at a height of 7,500 feet, and termed it The Observatory Hill. Only 20 mud huts existed on the hill then but now the town boasts of a population exceeding 9 lakh.

The agony:

Everything hasn't been well for the Darjeeling hills and the people of that part. They have been seething in anger for quite sometime. There has been a rise in their resentment against the people of the North Bengal plains. During the eighties, the separatist movement troubled the hills. The demand for a separate state 'Gorkhaland' was at its peak then, the residents of the Darjeeling hills felt insecure, thraetened and, needless to say, were persecuted too. The CRPF battalions carrying arms move to every nook and corner of the town and villages; bandhs were rampant; loss of lives, property, dignity & dreams resulted. Tourism was badly affected back then and the people of Darjeeling bent backwards in order to seek respite from the spiralling of woes.

As things calmed down, it was felt by many short-sighted politicians of West Bengal that the Gorkhaland Movement was on its way to die a slow natural death. Alas! It was not to be!

The discontent kept brewing, the people of the hills were boiling with agitation, conveniently unnoticed by many with an air of brash dismissal. Recently, the politics of bandhs have returned to Darjeeling with a vengeance. The brandishing of the khukris by the local activists threaten to disturb the peace for good, and hark back to the terrible days of violence. In protest against the bandhs, a civilian movement was formed demanding not to turn Darjeeling into a battlefield again, it was spearheaded by cilvilians who did not want to be penalised, having to bear the cost of loved ones.

Thus, on one hand, Bimal Gurung - who has been able to inflame peace-drenched hills with his rapid rise to fame - has snatched the baton from the former Gorkha National Liberation Front supremo, Subash Ghisingh, his mentor, and the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha has called for an indefinite bandh to put pressure on the State and the Centre to seriously moot the formation of a separate state, and, on the other hand, three anti-Gorkhaland organisations - Amra Bangali, Bangla Bhasa Bachaon Samity and Janajagaran Mancha have started to put an inverse pressure on the separatist movement. There has been backlash on the innocent tourists, who have been made to flee, and the bandhs and the counter-strikes, and civil unrest are back to throttle the voice of sanity. The hills aren't alive with the sound of music...... apologies to the creators of the immortal track from 'The Sound of Music' - that obviously resonate in me when I see in my mind's eye the quaint beauty of Darjeeling..... the hills are ablaze with people with selfish motives who want to make mischief and usher in pains & sorrows. Darjeeling bleeds, as we watch the beauty of Darjeeling captured in the splendid visuals of recent films like 'Anuranan', 'Chalo... Let's Go' and 'Via Darjeeling'. What a cruel irony!

Blogging - a fad???

I am often asked this question by my e-friends, and sometimes I even ask myself....... 'Is Blogging a Fad?'The Internet has produced significant social phenomena, such as email and the Web. However, it also has produced its share of fads and failures. One phenomenon that currently ranks high on the hype meter is web logs,or blogs. Now, the big question is: Are blogs just a passing phase?
Do they serve any useful purpose, as in dissemination of information, or are they just growing by leaps and bounds as just junk babbles on the Net?
We are in an era of fast and easy consumption, and even excretion of information. We seem to revel in the opportunity provided to all and sundry to churn out rubbish, along with the necessary and satisfactory content. We are all part of a world in which blogging provides psychologically masturbatory means of communicating as much with oneself to gratify our desperate need for ejaculating psycho-babble, as is the need to communicate with the invisible, the imaginable or the perceivable others.
People with similar interests have been able to bond better. They might be otherwise denied the opportunity of feedback sharing, or participating in the broader spectrum of reciprocity of views, ideas and emotions.
It is usually a tendency on the part of the critics to focus on the celebrity blogs, or that of the pop-culture genre, and give blogging a bad name. Blogging is a trend indeed, and is here to stay, for better or for worse; the future will be a witness, of course.

Kyle XY

Kyle XY is one of the best television series that I have seen of late. Till date I have caught the first two seasons of the series, and I must say that I am still quite hooked to it. Here, in India, the series has had a slightly deferred run on the StarWorld channel. I wasn't able to catch it from the very beginning, rather I joined towards the end of Season One. But I found the premise so delightful that I got hold of the DVD and saw the entire first season just as the Season Two unfolded week after week on my television screen. The series is Drama-Mystery-SciFi - all rolled into one. And the heart of the series is intelligently constituted by identity pangs that has such an endearing pull for a viewer like me!

Here is the storyline for the uninitiated: The Trager family (settled in Seattle) takes in an amnesiac teen, as Nicole Trager (the doting Mom, who also happens to be a psychological counsellor) brings the boy home to let him reconnect with his past, after he is found roaming about naked - completely clueless about who he is! Kyle, as the boy is soon named, has no memory and no belly-button either! It is eventually learnt that Kyle has mysterious powers and psychic abilities, and he is the result of a secret human cloning experiment conducted years earlier. The family helps teach Kyle human behaviours such as anger, joy and love, and guards him against forces who seek to use Kyle for their own nefarious purposes.
The series stars Matt Dallas as Kyle, Marguerite MacIntyre as Nicole Trager, Bruce Thomas as Stephen Trager, April Matson as Lori Trager and Jean-Luc Bilodeau as Josh Trager. Others in the cast include Chris Olivero as Declan, Kirsten Prout as Amanda, Nicholas Lea as Tom Foss, Jaimie Alexander as Jessi, Magda Apanowicz as Andy, and J. Eddie Peck as Adam Baylin.

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