Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Best of the lot - through my eyes and hearts - Part 2

(Do read the 1st part before this to get the complete picture)...
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Pather Panchali (1955) - It’s a poetry in motion. It’s a classic unfolded with all unknown beauties in front of dumb audiences. It transports you to the high of ecstasy, throws you out of gear with gripping reality and makes you cry with the characters. I have never come across any more such realistic portrayal in world cinema and to his credit Ray did this with minimum fuss or technology. To think that such a movie could be made in India is in itself a tribute to the great master and only he could think of such creation. If ever, a director were to be known as a single movie wonder then let it be a “Pather Panchali”.

Hirok Rajar Deshe (1980) – Another masterpiece from my favorite director. To create a whole movie in limerick and poetry is unthinkable and to top it with such subtle idea about politics, democracy, education and society is impossible even for god. But, he did it! He did it with utmost ease, with grand passion and with childish entertainment. You could find all flavors in this movie – from a children fantasy to a dictatorial politics. The story is genius and is ably supported by cast, camera, editing and background score. You can’t expect anything more from a movie than this.

Do Bigha Zameen (1953) – An ultimate and all time bollywood classic. I would be lying if I don’t mention this in my all time favorites. This Bimal Roy direction is a masterpiece in terms of the depiction of the characters, in terms of music, in terms of acting as well as in the eternal appeal of the story. If ever in India, the portrayal of poverty and fight of poor has ever been depicted, then this has to be a close winner (Even though “Sadgati” by ray, “Akrosh” etc come very close). The most famous scene from the movie is when Shambhu pushes himself to the limit pulling a rickshaw. The rider on the rickshaw offers Shambhu more money to pull faster because he is chasing (probably) his girlfriend in another rickshaw. Shambhu can not resist the temptation, and he keeps smiling in anticipation of getting more money. However, his wealthy customer is not worried the least about the lower class' plight. In this race, rickshaw loses a wheel and Shambhu is injured. However, through all these hardships Shambhu does not lose his righteousness, which is the moral of the movie. Shambhu's son steals money to help his father, only to be reproached by his father later. Shambhu's morality is the only thing that remains his own till the end.
And, if there is no morality left in the story then what is the fuss about the rest?

Seven Samurai (1954) – This is nothing but a sheer brilliance. First time I saw it, it came as a shock, thereafter every subsequent viewing has brought out some magnificent artistry of cinema, the capacity to narrate a story, the idea of the most fantastic background score, the love, the hate, the illusion and the fight for respect. To accommodate all this in a single movie, the director had to be brilliant, the editing had to be extraordinary and the grip over audience unflinching. To its credit it has all these. Even now, after so many have tried to imitate or beat it, Seven Samurai remains a totally gripping 3.5 hour experience. Akira Kurosawa is one of the gods of Cinema - men who seem to have been born to make films, who have it in their blood.
If ever, an example of total cinema has to be given then choose this one without semblance of doubt – such is the magnitude of this.

Autumn Sonata (1978) – Should I say that I should be proud that this was made in the year I was born? I take this as a gift of Bergman to me. Never before in my life did I imagine a movie with only 4 characters before this. I don’t know if “Morning Raga” comes as a close copy cat, but if that is then I must say bollywood should stop making such nonsense. Autumn Sonata is so intense in its emotions and so masterful in its presentation that the world of its characters—in this case an isolated, roomy parson's house in the south of Norway—absolutely overwhelms our senses and becomes for 92 minutes the only reality we can know. If ever, somebody has to be given a lesson of movie making, then just ask them to watch this – how to portray emotion, how to bring out the most unnerving ideas in reality and how with minimum dialogue and minimal characters we could have a masterpiece. The profundity of the writing, the acting, and the delivery of Autumn Sonata lies in its refusal, like that of a complex musical composition, to boil down to a single, unchallenged idea or emotion.

As good as it gets (1997) – This poor cousin of the famous “Titanic” has always remained close to my heart – for its simplicity, for its weirdness, for its magnificent ideas to portray love and emotions and above all for its daring idea of releasing it alongside a blockbuster yet coming out with flying colors. I vividly remember the poor crowd response to this movie in Calcutta and after watching this I could only pity those who have missed this. Sometimes, you need to go out of the conventional way of stories and technologies – because as a movie watcher I could only take the feeling and emotion out of the theatre, not the technology, not the acting and certainly not over the moon flamboyance. I have never heard a better way of proposing, I have never heard a better complement that a man or a woman could give to the other sex. How I wish I had such moments in my life!

As always, this might be the weirdest best 10 ever compiled, but in my mind they remain my best moments. They could transport me to the highs of emotions, to the depths of love and hatred, to the fantasies of childhood and to the darkest areas in life. If ever you don’t feel like being a character in the movie then it’s simply not worth watching for me. I pay for that connection, I thrive in that ecstasy and I would love to die in that dream.
That’s what a movie is for me.

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2 Comments:

At 1:59 PM , Blogger spiderman! said...

I think Do Bigha Zameen would be the best Hindi movie ever made. Followed closely by Do Aankhen Barah Haath. And I am not an ardent admirer of Pather Panchali anyway. As Good As it Gets is a very good movie but better than Forrest Gump ? Your call.

 
At 9:09 PM , Blogger Gaurav Kumar Ambasta said...

I have not seen any of these. :(

 

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