Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Love In India - KABHIE, KABHIE !

[Kabhie Kabhie in Hindi means 'Sometimes...' and is pronounced 'cub + he' repeated twice]


'Kabhie,Kabhie' is another Hindi movie about a poet and lost love, but unlike Pyaasa, this movie is set in a modern upper middle class society in India (It was upper middle class at the time I saw this movie the first time in 1980s). And it has modern stars and fancy locales. It has real poetry recited in the actor Amitabh's voice, who delivers sarcasm in the highest bass sound possible making everyone , including myself,  instant fans. 

The story is about a poet (Amitabh Bachchan) who is in love with the heroine (Rakhee) but the heroine is married off to another gentlemen (Shashi Kapoor) as per the arranged marriage system prevalent in India. However, what is extraordinary about the movie is that there is hardly any sobbing and crying over lost love, except in the title song 'Kabhie, Kabhie'. The characters all handle the situation in a mature way as they cross each other's path frequently. Though, the poet does make sarcastic remarks on occasions to his ex-lady friend.  Both the families remain friends throughout until their kids grow up and fall in love and marry. There are some jealousies among kids that result in soap like moments in the movie, which stretches the movie to its two and a half hours to three hours Hindi movie limit.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

PYAASA - The Ways Of The Greedy World !

[Pyaasa means thirsty in Hindi. Thirsty for love in the context of this movie.]

Pyaasa is a old movie (1957) in B&W considered a classic of the Hindi moviedom. According to Wikipedia, this movie was named one of the best movies of all time by Time magazine. It follows the standard format of a Hindi movie of the time while telling a story serious enough to be called a classic. There is the usual comic (Johnny Walker) friend of the hero. There are quite a few songs. However, it is the lyrics and their picturization that make the movie special. The poet expresses his thoughts thru his poems and I cannot do justice here in translating the poems into English...

The story is about a dejected and disenchanted poet who wants to get his poems printed but faces repeated rejection even though the people around him like his poems very much. His brothers throw him out of their home because he cannot find a job. They sell his poems as trash to a grocer. A girl from the local brothel picks up the file containing his poems and becomes a fan. Meanwhile, the poet becomes suicidal. He hands over his jacket to a beggar on the street which has his suicide note in the pocket. The beggar dies in a train accident and people confuse him with poet. The brothel lady tries to print his poems in his memory with her own money which brings us to the romantic part of the story.

The poet was in love with a nice lady but that lady is married off to a rich book publisher. The publisher becomes aware of their affair. He throws the poet out from his employment which leads to the suicide attempt mentioned above. However, when the brothel lady, with a heart of gold, approaches the publisher to get the poems printed, assuming the poet is dead, the publisher agrees with the intention of making a big profit. However, he gets a telephone call informing him that the poet is alive. The two brothers who had thrown the poet out of their home run to the publisher, shedding crocodile tears, at the loss of their 'beloved' brother and asking for their share of the profit. The publisher asks the two brothers not to identify the poet as their brother and ignore him in case he appears before them. It is his death that has made the poet popular, you see,  much more than when he was alive and everybody wants to 'cash in' on his posthumous fame.

Meanwhile, the poet tries to convince everyone that he is alive but nobody believes him.[They think the poet died in the train crash because of the note in the jacket.] He is locked up in a mental asylum. His comic friend helps him escape from the asylum. As the book publisher holds a (fake) memorial service in his honor with unveiling of the poet's bust, the poet enters the hall filled with people who have come to attend the service in his honor. There is one last song , one last message he delivers ' this world of thrones and crowns and hackneyed traditions, what value is that world even if I manage to own it? Where love is sold for money, where death is cheaper than life.....Burn this world and turn it into trash...that is all it is'!! Then he gets on the podium and announces to the public that they were right, he is not that poet. The poet is dead. The publisher gets the poet thrown out from the hall...

He decides to leave that 'world' and go far, far away from the madding crowd. To the world of religion and piety. And his lady friend from the brothel joins him on his journey. 

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

LAKSHYA - Aiming For The Himalayan Peaks .....


Lakshya means aim or a goal in Hindi.

Kargil is a land in Himalayas associated with a real conflict in the Himalayan region in North East India. This conflict was in the news in 1999s when India lost a number of soldiers in the effort to take back the peak/s taken over by Pakistani soldiers by surprise. The danger was that the 'enemy' soldiers were hiding at a high altitude and so anyone approaching them from below was at a great risk of being exposed and killed. 

This movie is inspired from that conflict and shows amazing locales in Himalayas where it is almost impossible for man to survive. The story is told thru the life of a nice young man who is wasting his life 'aimlessly'. Therefore, his family and his journalist girl friend are upset with him. He promises them that he will join the army and make them proud. So he does but initially falters because of his 'loose' attitude and is punished for the same. He runs away but when his girlfriend insults him for being a coward he goes back to the army and becomes serious about his lakshya (goal).

Then he is thrust into the Kargil conflict and finds his goal at last, which is to help his unit and India take back the peak from the intruders. After mind numbing action (firing of artillery and grenades) leading to face to face conflict, he and few members of his team who are left alive finally win back and install India's flag on the peak.

The movie is a little slow in the first half but catches speed when the conflict becomes imminent. 

The scenery of the mountainous region made up of snow covered stony peaks and clear water streams, where origins of great rivers lie, are breath taking.  Hrithik Roshan seems to have matured as an actor as he plays a college student and then a determined young army man.