Michael - Movie

Watched 'Michael' and was most impressed by young Jaafar Jackson who is Michael Jackson's nephew, son of Jermaine Jackson. But this is less about the movie and more about my association with MJ as we knew him and not Michael.

Sometime in the mid 1980's when we were just out of school and were listening to western music, came this Grammy Award night which was telecast on Indian TV. Not live but a recorded thing and we saw it. Happened that it was one of the greatest years for Western music ever with hits like 'Beat it', 'All Night Long', 'Every Breath You Take' etc. The videos, MJ, everything was different in so many ways. MJ comes on with a new sound, completely different, and we heard 'Beat It' like it was from another world. I first heard 'Beat It' in MLJ's car when Vidyuth played it on their snazzy cassette player and I was blown. I immediately shared the news with my other music pal Mr Naresh Raghavan who had by then secured an LP of 'Thriller'. So it was on a weekday afternoon, after classes, that me and Naresh went to his house and listened to 'Thriller' over and over again. Later Naresh would perform to it in his college festival which is a brave thing to do looking back.

Then MJ kept coming with other albums but after 'Thriller' I actually went back and bought 'Off the Wall' at Sangeet Sagar and somehow liked it more than I liked 'Thriller'. And then all the other albums after that - 'Bad', 'History' and stuff which marked years of our growth past college, into work, and so on and so forth. I remember my brother Ram telling me how MJ would not stop crying when he sang 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You..' and then Sagar introducing me to a Two Cellos version of 'Smooth Criminal'.

I never imagined anyone could actually get close to even one move of his because he was electric but watching Jaafar Jackson nail them one by one, not miss a beat, a move, an expression, was surreal. It was like he says in the film 'channeling' Michael. The way he spoke, the kindness in his voice, the softness in his eyes, the clarity of thought, suddenly reconnected to the MJ we knew as a superstar, and now as a human. He says 'they are my friends' when they speak of animals and when they speak of fans 'they are my family'. His love for humans, for the sick, the children, for music and for giving the best, his search for something beyond excellence 'the best ever' and the way he designed his music videos, his songs, hims persona, is a crazy. That said, while Jaafar did a magnificent job young Juliano Krue Valdi who played young MJ was equally magnificent. The tight close ups offer no chance to escape and Jaafar and Juliano stayed true to the part, bringing all the love, vulnerability and honesty that MJ had -your eyes have to be exactly that. Something about his desire for excellence beyond his times 'of all time' and the humility with which he wore that crown reminds one of the Level 5 Leadership. Something that leaders of the world today can do well to emulate.

Perhaps it is the timing that's right - in a world full of fakeness, lies and dishonesty - here comes a silver lining. He was true to whatever he believed in and stayed that way. Looking back at his interviews, a couple which popped up, its in sync. Much to learn and be from good ol MJ. We never truly understood him except that we knew he was great and crazy enough to bring the coolest music videos, the most heart stopping steps and presentations. We never knew of his work, his life. Thanks to the movie and Jaafar, we now know he was way ahead of his times...and they were good times....so he was way, way, way ahead of the present times.

Can watch it again and again. Perhaps with my old pals Naresh and Vidyuth!       

  

Tere Ishq Mein - Movie

I stopped writing about movies for reasons best known to me but there are movies that make me want to write about them. 'Tere Ishq Mein' is one such. I like Anand L. Rai's work generally but what happens once in a while is that we have an idea in mind that is so subtle that it sometimes does not translate like how we want it to. I feel TIM is one such.

My guess is that the one liner - 'no one after our generation will ever know what it is to love like we do'  is the inspiration. And to prove this premise we need two people who love like no other generation can - ever. So we have a DUSU (Delhi University Student's Union) President who is very very very angry man inside and a v v v violent one too (like throwing Diwali rockets into crowds of people, beating up bus drivers until they bleed and such other stuff). He is capable of intense stuff you see and just does not care. Then we have a Psychology student whose thesis is to prove that violence in people can be cured - and she finds Mr DUSU President as the ideal subject for her study. When given the proposal he asks (as any sensible fellow would) why he should be subjected to whatever she wants to do. Of course the great academic that she is - she is ready to do anything to prove her thesis and further scientific knowledge (including booking a hotel room to give her study a taste of 'fun' - of which he seems to have no clue about). Anyway no fun occurs as he is put off by her aggressive methods.

Meanwhile, her methods to cure his violence include holding him and telling him not to hit people, to remember what she told him (which is not to be violent) and other such powerful stuff and he finally stops himself from hitting someone while her guides are watching - thus earning her a pass. That ends her love affair with him.

OK, there happens a dialogue where she says she will do what she has to do for her work and he will do what he has to do (basically be non violent) because of love. Now how they get into this situation I do not know but slowly she leans more to work and he leans more to her. In his love for her, he reveals his mother's name to her (which is a sign of vulnerability) but she does not really care because her work is done. I forget now why she visits him at his low class house where his notary filling father and his friend and he are eating dinner (he is eating sambar rice with a spoon for some reason) but she ends up inviting him home to meet her IAS Officer father who lives in a mansion more like a mafia don's and behaves like one. He has some dangerous dogs too which are in the background. Anyway he treats our man badly and we expect him to beat him up but our man suddenly has become completely helpless after he has fallen in love - which seems to be the real cure for violence and not her stupid methods.

Anyway he becomes completely pliable and also loses his mind - like not knowing what UPSC is and confusing it for CBSE (its a wonder if he knows what DUSU is also). Anyway mafia IAS man behaves like a full mafia don and tells our DUSU President that he can come back after clearing IAS prelims to ask for his daughter's hand. DUSU Pres promises like a good boy that he will come back after clearing prelims and until then he will not be in touch with her. His only condition (like true lovers) is that she should pick up his call when he calls. She agrees - probably hoping to change her number before that occurs.

While our man is trying to figure out what UPSC is and CBSE is and IAS is and such basic stuff, our heroine moves on to find a cute boyfriend confident in her knowledge that DUSU Pres will never clear anything now that he has fallen in love with her. She heads off to the USA for some higher degree. Meanwhile our man fails Prelims for two years and then clears in the third year - all because he wants to marry the young lady who does not love him. Somewhere here the boy, his father and friend decide that it is an occasion to buy new clothes as if they have been invited to their engagement and when they visit her house they find that they are dressed up - for someone else's engagement! They leave I think.

Anyway our non-violent man comes back when she is getting engaged to her boyfriend and she does not pick up the phone. Non violent man turns into an arsonist and decides to burn the house down because he has promised her that if she does not pick up his phone he will burn Delhi down (which he does not - he only burns a few curtains). Anyway cops and fire brigades come and take him away.

Come father of the arsonist and mafia don makes him fall at all his servants feet to apologise for his son's mistake and we all cringe at it but actually he totally deserves it for messing with the IAS don. IAS Don tells him to collect his son who has been beaten black and blue which is also fair since that fellow tried to burn Delhi down. On their way back home father tells his son something he never told him all these years - that he wants his son to fly the fastest plane in the sky because he could not afford to buy his son a toy plane when he was a kid. Why he never told his son such a nice dream in all these years I do not know but he says that and then decides to show his son that his old Bajaj scooter can ride as fast as a plane and crashes - and dies!

Non violent boy goes to Varanasi with his father's body (that should be an expensive affair - ambulance etc) instead of simply taking the ashes and meets one crazy guy who seems to talk in riddles about Shiva and Mukti and Shankar and Parvati and tells the boy to burn in his love. Something happens after that and suddenly girl falls in love with our man and takes to drinking while boy finds meaning in life - to become a fighter pilot - in fact the best fighter pilot ever. She becomes an alcoholic pregnant counsellor with the defence academy.

Now the face off - our man has been grounded by his boss for disobeying orders and suddenly war had broken out - and we need our best pilot. But hey, he needs clearance from the alcoholic, drug addicted counsellor who is pregnant and deeply in love with the guy she never loved. She does not want to sign because if she signs he will fly off and die and if he does not fly her husband will drown and die (he is in a ship you see). Anyway our man promises like the noble Karna that one will remain - he or her husband and then flies into one solo enemy ship and that ends the war and the film.

How this has proved that love like this will never ever happen for generations ever I did not understand. In fact if this is love it is better that the generations to follow do not subject themselves to it. It has arson, self hate, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, suicidal tendencies, philandering and many such illegal stuff. In the end there is an imaginary scene where she is walking with our man to the fastest plane and his father is dancing in the background! Someone tell me who loves whom and how it is actually being shown - she loves booze, he wants to die - that's what I figured.

Overall, amazing! Like I once wrote a novel because someone wrote a bad novel, I am sure someone will get inspired to make a film after watching this. There are many small details I am forgetting but it is already too long and I feel I have also got it out of my system by writing. Hey, maybe I think I should be the one to write scripts now.          

Traffic - Movie

 2000. English.

Stories from different perspectives of drug addiction and the drug trade - law enforcement, suppliers, distributors, judges, users - many stories intertwining in the war on drugs. Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones and an ensemble cast. Each story is shot differently with a different colour scheme and style. Interesting.

 

The Dogs of War - Movie

 1980. English.

Based on Frederick Forsyth's novel of the same name the film is about a group of mercenaries who depose a dictator in an African country for an English tycoon who wants to control the platinum deposits of that country. Chris Walken is Jamie Shannon who is the head of the mercenaries and who finally does the right thing by the country and by humanity.

Remember reading the novel when I was a youngster. Good to see the movie. Quite gripping despite some predictable angles.

Bougainvillea - Movie

 2024

Accident. Woman loses memory. Paints bougainvilleas continuously. Husband takes care of her unpredictable moods. Enter cops who question her regarding missing women whom she has been spotted talking to. What happens next is a crazy change in pace and direction. Quite an unpredictable end.

  

Pyar Kiye Ja - Movie

 1966

Originally made in Tamil it was remade into several languages. This one had Shashi Kapoor, Kishore Kumar, Mehmood, Rajashree, Mumtaz, Om Prakash and co. Shashi Kapoor and Kishore Kumar are friends - one poor and the other rich in that order. Poor guy works in an estate and falls in love with owner's daughter and calls rich friend to act as his rich father to woo her. Rich friend falls for the sister of the girl. Meanwhile the brother of the two girls Mehmood is busy trying to make a film he hopes his father will produce. It all ends up well of course. Many songs and much fun.

Miskil had suggested this and finally got to watch it. Glad I did.

Achanak - Movie

 1973

Guzar directed the film based on a screenplay by KA Abbas which is based on the real life story of naval officer KM Nanavati. Vinod Khanna plays the army officer who finds his wife having an affair with his friend and kills them both and then in an act of repentance escapes the police to give away her mangal sutra in the Ganges - unsuccessfully.

I remember the story that I think Nalini told us when we were kids - the dogs following Vinod Khanna and the figure 8 he does around trees to confuse them. Gripping.

 

Hamraaz - Movie

 1968. BR Chopra

Starts like a shot. Within five minutes we are past one song, a marriage, a death, a widow, a pregnancy, a second marriage, an unknown child, return of the first husband, murder of the wife, the joining forces of first and second husband to catch the killer of the wife and finally the reunion of child with second husband with first husband dying in the process. 

Lots of good songs. It won the National Award for best film that year. Sunil Dutt is husband 2, Raaj Kumar is husband 1, Vimi is wife who looks equally dead when she was alive, Sarika is a prodigal child artiste with a bright future written all over her. Mumtaz is there on hand to be wife no 2 to Sunil Dutt and Mother no 2 to Sarika.

  

Kishkindha Kandam - Movie

 2024. Malayalam.

A marriage. A huge estate. A father who is losing his memory. A wife who died of cancer. A son who is missing. A revolver that is missing along with two bullets. Monkeys that abound that area spotted with what looks like a revolver. A skeleton found on the premises.

Does the father remember some things and pretend like he does not?

PS I Love You -Movie

 Finally saw this movie which is based on a novel by Cecelia Ahern. Chap from Ireland marries girl from America and suddenly passes away. But he does not really move on as he leaves her little notes and letters to keep her engaged enough until she gets over him. Don't know if its a good idea to keep popping up after you die because it is very presumptuous to think that the wife is actually missing him. What if she was not missing him and was actually relieved that he went? What if she just wanted to pick up and get on with her life without all these things popping up? Shows that our man was a little thoughtless there. But anyway luckily for him, she did miss him and liked his letters and notes.

Movies!

 

In the Heat of the Night - Movie

 1967. English.

Some kind of a cult hit being based on racial discrimination in Mississippi, it was nominated for seven awards. A rich businessman is killed in a small town in Mississippi and as luck would have it the cops find a black man in the railway station with a fat wallet. Turns out he is a cop, a homicide expert from Philadelphia, but the racist cops in town do not treat him right. The widow however forces the mayor to use his services and he does uncover the murderer despite grave danger to him from the racists who want to kill him.

Sidney Poitier is amazingly intense as Mr Virgil Tibbs (They call me Mr Virgil Tibbs) and Roy Steiger Police Chief Gillespie. The last shot when Gillespie accompanies Tibbs to the railway station and tells him to take care was very cute - they both smile so beautifully!

  

Lucky Bashkar - Movie

 2024. Telugu.

A bank clerk who is constantly in debt for no real reason (he's not into gambling, drinking, nor has family debts to pay off) gets into a get-rich-quick scheme in the bank (how someone who cannot manage his family finances like buying an extra vada pav despite having a job) mainly because he is set up by the bosses (all chors), finally decides enough is enough, and goes off to the USA to join his first partner in crime with his ill gotten gains but not before nobly whistle blowing on his bosses. Reminded me of 'Scam'. 

No emotional chords touched though.

Meiyazhagan - Movie

 2024. Tamil.

Arvind Swamy and Karthi  

Lovely film. Haven't seen any like it. A middle aged man from Chennai (Arvind Swamy) visits his old hometown that he left due to a family dispute and runs into a stranger (Karthi) who seems to know him very well and is fully enamoured by him. As the few hours drag on the man discovers so much about himself, about life, through the other person's simple and beautiful approach to life - and through it all does not know his host and benefactor's name. Fabulous story, screenplay, music, performances.

Good enough to watch again.

The Return of the Pink Panther - Movie

 1975. 

After 'Shot in the Dark', Peter Sellers returns as Inspector Clouseau with his exaggerated accent, pompous manner and bungling ways, to catch a mysterious thief who has stolen the Pink Panther from heavy security. Clouseau goes about in his bungling ways to catch Sir Charles Litton (played by Christopher Plummer), the Phantom, who he suspects, and uncovers the truth thereby earning himself a greater reputation. His boss Dreyfus however loses his mind as he becomes obsessed with killing Clouseau (and accidentally kills the real villains and saves Clouseau).

   

Adi Sankaracharya - Movie

 1983. Sanskrit.

The film was made with funding by NFDC and was India's first film to be made in Sanskrit. The movie sketches the life of Adi Sankaracharya from his childhood to his death covering all the major aspects of his journey to consolidate the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. Sarvadaman Banerjee played Adi Sankaracharya and looked very much the part. Very interesting watch.

   

The Pink Panther Strikes Again - Movie

 1976.

I missed a few in this series looks like - this is the fifth in the series. After the first one I jumped straight into this one. But it was hilarious and all that I expected a Pink Panther series to be. Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau somehow gets into a situation where assassins from 16 different countries are out to kill him (including a handsome Egyptian assassin Omar Sharif) and true to his calibre, somehow loses everyone of them and saves the day for the world!

Some of the sequences are hilarious like the helium balloon one, or his attempts to investigate the kidnappings in England. Now to watch the others.

      

Six Degrees of Separation - Movie

 1993.

Amazingly, its based on a real life incident. A conman by the name of David Hampton conned rich people in Manhattan by posing as the son of Sidney Poitier. So convincing and charming was he that the couple allowed him to stay the night in their apartment only to wake up in the morning to find him in bed with another man. The victims spoke about it to their friend John Guare who was a playwright and lo, it became a play and was adapted into a movie. Will Smith plays the young conman who cons rich Manhattanites. Very interesting.

  

Missamma - Movie

 1955.

A young unmarried couple pose as if they are married to get jobs as teachers in a school run by a rich zamindar and fall in love!

After 'Patala Bhairavi' NTR still looks young but has put on some weight, Savitri is incredibly good as Ms Mary. The film was directed by LV Prasad, and was shot simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu. Later made into a Hindi film and then a Marathi film.

 

 

The Pink Panther - Movie

 1963. Peter Sellers, David Niven.

Inspector Clouseau is entrusted with finding the Pink Panther, a rare diamond, which is with Princess Dala. But unknown to him there is a smooth ladies man sir Charles Lytton who is the phantom responsible for many daring jewel thefts, his nephew who poses as a collegian but who is a conman himself, inspector Clouseau's wife who is having an affair with Lytton. The story is delightfully packed with wicked characters with no conscience - they all get together and put Inspector Clouseau in jail while they head off to Brazil to celebrate. Brilliant writing, fabulous characters, superb actors.

 

Firaaq - Movie

 2008. Hindi.

Directed by Nandita Das the movie is set one month after the Gujarat riots of 2002 and explores the consequences of riots on the lives of ordinary people, a young Muslim couple (husband has an auto) whose house was burnt and looted, an elderly musician who teaches music and remains oblivious to the hate around him, a well-t-do couple whose shop got looted, a Hindu wife who is trying to make up for the guilt of not helping a Muslim woman who had banged on their door seeking protection from a mob and so on.

Nicely made. Nasseruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Deepti Naval, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shahana Goswami, Amruta Subhash, Sanjay Suri, Tisca Chopra, Raghuvir Yadav. Can't go wrong.