I reviewed Manjul Bajaj’s book Come, Before Evening Falls recently. It is a very good take on the Haryana Jat culture. She has opened a new chapter in Indian writing in English. See here.
27
Feb
Karthik calling Karthik
A few days back on the radio I heard Farhan Akhtar say, ‘I am nervous for everyone … we have a new DoP. I hope the movie works.’ I messaged Sanu, who called back and later updated his FaceBook status: I am the DoP for Karthik calling Karthik. I went to see KcK last night, as I had promised Sanu. It’s been a long time since I saw a movie in a theatre. In fact, I did not even know how to book tickets! Anyway, I went …
I loved seeing Director of Photography: Sanu John Varughese. I hoped by the end of the movie I can feel proud of his work. I was, Sanu, I was very proud of you last night. The subtle colours and lights work very well. These are the whys I liked the cinematography:
• When the protagonist is on the calls, the shadows creep in from the side of the frame.
• When the protagonist is coming to terms with his reality, the hard steel lighting and ambience is a metaphor for his struggle.
• The way multiple points of views are arranged when one character sees another one through the glass partition. Good editing too.
• When the character is confused and his face is shown on the water dispenser –brilliant.
• The way in tense close-ups, the scar under the protagonist’s eye is highlighted.
• The odd top shot of the protagonist on the bed, with the bed cover framing the scene. Shows the mood very well.
• When the protagonist’s perceived truth is about to be revealed the shots change from colour to black and white. That gets my vote!
• The lit up shots when the protagonist is trying to hide and find himself juxtaposed with the the sea scene where the lover is misty eyed.
• When the final call comes and the protagonist switches on the light, the texture of the scene changes.
Overall, Sanu you deepened the script and used the rules of aesthetics to serve and enhance the story and never drew attention to your work. I found the lemon lighting in the love scene a little jarring but actually the state of mind of the characters too was jarring. Also the protagonist in chains on one call, not needed. He scampers away very well.
A word about the film:
I liked Karthik calling Karthik. I normally do not trust the directorial intention in movies where reality is distorted to serve art. Many a times it is a very thin line. Though, I believe, TZP, MINK, and Paa remain authentic. I found KcK to be authentic.
Script-wise: The overcoming the hesitation could have been weaved in better with the nervousness and we would have saved time to show character development. But the core story is very well handled. The meta-question is well depicted: If I am happy about something abnormal, why do you have a problem with it? I disagree with reviewers who do not like the ending. I thought the ending was intelligent and practical. Most psychological situations have practical solutions. One has to end a movie somewhere and care is the most important aspect in psychology.
So Sanu, thank you! Congratulations to Vijay Lalwani and Farhan Akhtar, whoever did the sets, and of course to you. Hugs!
Tags: movie, Psychology
28
Jan
Dreams For The Dying
C K Meena was my teacher in journalism school. How hard can it be to review? See here. ‘He doubted if he would encounter someone as interesting as her in all his life. And he hadn’t really met her. That was the problem with his job. Intriguing people, by the time he met them, were likely to be dead.’
What do you do when your partner has a double life? And is now dead?
7
Jan
Birds on my terrace
In these chilly Delhi winters my sleep is erratic. Some days I wake up at 6.30 AM, on other at 7.30 AM, and yet sometimes at 8.30 AM or even 9 AM. I know I am being a bad boy, but what can I do? It is just so cold. I suspect much worse than previous year. I can’t go out evenings because it is cold. I can’t work because it is cold. Damn cold! Chills us, breaks us, makes us lazy, and inhibits works.
Every morning when I wake up the first thing I do is put grains for birds who come to my terrace. These days I wake up erratically and put the grains at all hours 6.30, 7.30, 8.30, 9, different each day. Yet, within five minutes of my putting the grains the pigeons are there, so are the parakeets, bulbuls, crows, sparrows, mynahs, and some time doves.
Does the cold not inhibit them? Okay, they have feathers, they have fluff, they snuggle up, and they are endotherms. So are we humans. We are so evolved that we have clothes, houses, organised food, and brains to help us find our way through nature. Why then do we get so affected by the cold while the simple birds who have none of our advantages manage just fine, with perhaps no complaints?
Their flights don’t get delayed. Their roads don’t get blocked. I wonder if development through the centuries has made us less capable to being at peace with nature. We are not talking Antarctica, just a slightly more than regular Delhi cold. Have we humans forgotten something?
1
Jan
Happy New Year
Dear readers and visitors, my friends, may New Year’s be a beginning to peace in your life. Wherever you are, feel for the place and its people, it will take you a long way. Happy New Year.
Tags: Happy New Year
9
Dec
A Cause Untrue
Sometimes work just flows in like rain. Thanks to Businessworld for bringing out two reviews close to each other. Click here to read about an action drama.
Tags: David Blacker, Fiction, terrorist
7
Dec
Civil Lines
Once upon a time, in this country we had a literary magazine that celebrated new writing in Engish. It died, or, I hope, is just in coma. I recently reviewed an anthology based on the magazine for Businessworld. Click here to read more.
Tags: anthology, Civil Lines
3
Dec
Dilli Dilwalon Ki
Peak hour traffic on Nizammudin Bridge. Vehicles backed up. We inched closer. Cursing, honking, braking, guarding our priceless cars from the car, bike, cycle, tractor, auto-rickshaw next to us. I saw my watch: a one minute drive had taken twenty. I was in no mood to reconcile. Get to Ashram lights and speed out on the Ring Road. Gosh! I came to Delhi to escape Bangalore traffic. This is worse.
As I neared the point of the snarl I saw a battered, huge, old Delhi Water Board tanker in the middle of the road. The rest of the traffic was going around it. Behind the tanker were at least fifteen school kids, huffing and pushing. I saw it for a few good minutes. The cars around it were making a beeline to squeeze between the road divider and the tanker.
Suddenly, the tanker spurted to life, groaned. It moved a bit on its own engine. The delicate hands started leaving the tanker’s back. Its wheels started acquiring a life. Out, from the driver’s side, jumped a Sardarji. He had a maroon turban, was in a cream shirt and brown trousers. He was wearing sun glasses and had tied up his beard with a strip of cloth, to set its hair. I could hardly see his face, but his cheeks were shining, turning red in the sun. His lips were turned into a broad smile. His arms were raised above his head, his hands were folded in a Namaste. That is all he did, stand on the road, give thanks, while the tanker engine warmed up.
The children cheered and moved away; the tanker started and the Sardarji vanished into it. They moved away. The warmth of the gesture purged my frustration at being held up on the road.
Tags: Delhi, Nizammudin, tanker, traffic
25
Nov
God and me
A few days back a journalist asked me my opinion on God and sent a few questions. I am pasting the answer here because I am not sure how the newspaper will carry the information. I like it that at this point in life I could answer this much. For a long time I have been trying to answer these questions to myself.
Q1.) How do you connect with God?
God connects with me. The fact that I can breathe is God’s connect with me. What I do with my breath, my life, is my responsibility towards God. Over the last few years, after some immense loses, I feel God holds me by the scruff of my neck and pushes me towards things that are good for me. Even if they are tough, I learn from them and that I experience as God’s blessings.
Q2.) What does spirituality mean to you?
Spirituality to me means to connect with the spirit of the world. To find and practice a way of life that keeps the spirit alive in me and prompts me towards consciousness, thoughts, feelings, actions that bring in me an understanding of how to live in such a way that my time on Earth is worthwhile and engaging.
Q3.) What does God mean to you? Tell us about your beliefs and rituals you follow to stay connected with the supreme power?
I can not define God. In fact, God is indefinable. I have come to this understanding from my readings and livings that it is our attempt to define God that leads to our myopia about God. God is an abstract, a truth that plays out in our lives in physical ways. But the force, the power can not and need not be defined.
I practise no rituals except trying to meditate. I love going to places of worship because I love experiencing the faith that people bring to those places. I access God by being mindful of the purpose of life. I have finite years to experience the beauty and wonder of life. I hope to utilise that time well. Writing is my way of doing that, understanding myself, and I engage in writing every single day. Those are my prayers.
Okay, okay, been long. Sorry! I have been writing but I know I did not update these pages soon enough. I will try to be more regular … Here is a review of mine on a book from Bangladesh that appeared recently in Businessworld. Click here for story.
Tags: Bangladesh, drugs, New writer, Shazia Omar