Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Hindsight is 20/20

Haven't written any thing for last several weeks. Lots of things I want to talk about but haven't been able to organize my thoughts. Mind wanders.
Saw RAJNEETI , RAAVAN, and KITES in LA and read the reviews on the net. People form opinions quickly on the basis of other people's opinions and it starts to build like a tidal wave either taking what is in its wake to the crest or to the bottom. It seems now a days no one is interested in looking at what works in a film, only what doesn't. Specially people from the film industry. As the saying goes, "Hindsight is 20/20".
Here is my hindsight:
RAAVAN is a very difficult film to execute. Its visuals, atmosphere, production design, and score are really impressive, totally appropriate to the story Mani Ratnam was trying to tell. The film's screenplay, as is obvious from the title itself, is a clever modern day adaptation of Ramayana. Where it falters is that for any kidnap story to work, at least in the beginning, the audience must be afraid of the victim's jeopardy. In Raavan, in spite of good performances by Aishwarya and Abhishek, Aishwarya's character never seems to be in any kind of danger because of the screen couples real life relationship. That out-of-the box casting actually becomes the film's undoing. If Abhishek had played Ram instead of Raavan, the real life relationship perhaps would have helped the film. I bet everyone connected with the film wanted to avoid cliche'd casting but sometimes one has to remember that cliche's become cliche's because they work.
In India, where media makes headline news of personal lives of brand name actors, their on screen characters are overshadowed by audiences perception of their off screen persona. Difference between a Star and an Actor is because of this perception. An actor moulds himself or herself into the character, where as star moulds the character into himself or herself. It is not the star's fault. It is the fault of audience expectation created by media hype which makes a brand name star out of someone who given a chance could perhaps be a finely nuanced actor. This stardom is a boon as well as a bane for the actor. Boon because his/her popularity soars and so does his/her marketability and price, bane because the actor now is trapped by his/her stardom. His/her craft is not appreciated, personality is.
Even though, Raavan is supposed to be an allegory (a figurative interpretation of a mythological tale), the character of Hanuman, played by Govinda in the film is treated too literally by making him jump from trees to trees. If that was the intention, then he should have also burnt Raavan's Lanka as Hanuman did.
RAJNEETI on the other hand was a fine mix of an allegory of Mahabharat liberally blended with the best american gangster flick, The Godfather. It is a mix that worked very well until Ranbir's Arjun picks up the gun and shoots down Ajay Devgun's Karan at the goading of Nana Patekar's Krishna. Here it jumped from being a figurative adaptation to a literal translation.
In any case, one allegory was made a hit by the audience and the other was not. One rode the tidal wave of public opinion, other sank to the bottom.
KITES failure to fly high both in India and Internationally in spite of a re-edit (referred to as Re-mix) by Bret Ratner has sent shockwaves among all including me who have been waving the flag of cross-over cinema for years, awaiting that one hit which will sweep both India's movie audience and American moviegoers off their feet collectively. Not in pockets but en masse. In spite of great looks and fine chemistry shared by the leads, and some spectacular stunts, the film failed to appeal to the audience in both countries, making one wonder that is their such a thing as a "Crossover film" and if it is there, can it be 'designed' or is it merely a stroke of luck when it happens, as in the case of Crouching Tiger or Life is beautiful?
On international cinema front, saw two beautiful films on the flight from LA to Hong Kong: LOVELY BONES and BROTHER. One is a strange mixture of crime thriller with fantasy of afterlife, realized beautifully as a film under the direction of brilliant Peter Jackson, and the other is a high voltage realistic drama of two brothers, one considered good and the other bad and how life and circumstances make them trade places. The film's screenplay was filled with poignant scenes, heart rending performances with right degree of restrain by all principal actors and an emotional climax beautifully orchestrated by Jim Sheridan. I also saw a third film called VALENTINE'S DAY which is a fine example of the current screenplay fad in Hollywood: multiple stories linked by a theme in which the paths of their individual protagonists eventually converge in the climax.
Have been reading an interesting book on screenplay writing talking about Vertical thinking and Lateral thinking. Screenplay of LOVELY BONES was a textbook example of lateral thinking. BROTHER was more Vertical. Perhaps my training at IIT made me more of a Vertical thinker. Have to work on the lateral side.

3 comments:

  1. Great!!!! I felt the same with Ravan and Rajniti. Happened to meet Vikram at the J W Marriot just before the release of Ravan with my business friends, he dint seem to be so happy to talk about it when spoken about Hindi version, but did expect a lot from south audience which is Ravanan!! I am waiting to see the Tamil version too... About Rajneeti, first time i felt i could watch the Indian "The God Father" and for few days i thought this movie is Indian "God Father"... but after couple of weeks watched it again... felt that it was just an ice breaker for the audience. After many flops, he has something different to watch.. Whatever, i agree by your words written above :)

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  2. Interesting commentary Jagmohan ji ... I recently reviewed 'Raajneeti' for a radio show out here called 'The Indian Angle' (at the 3:30 mark http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7669125) and will be reviewing 'Raavan' this week as well (going to watch it tomorrow!)... I was also intrigued by the fact that both these films are adaptations of India's two greatest epics. I saw the Indian version of 'Kites' and thought it was awful ... not sure what the 'Remix' was like ... but I think Bollywood will have to bring a lot more to the table than just good looking people, stunts, and songs in order to make a successful crossover film.

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  3. Sir,

    I'm looking for a copy of your film 'Suraag'. I would be grateful if you could let me know where to procure it from.

    My e-mail is doppelganger.redux@gmail.com

    Regards,
    Yasir

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