The Cinema I grew up watching – Part 1

This post comes as my 101 post hence thought it got to be special.I am introduced to some really amazing work in world cinema these days.I saw amazing use of Syntactic and Semantic Substituition techniques(my way of explaining Symbolism in movies) in Eliphantayan by Odoor Gopalakrishnan.I have been in a kind of Movie-Marathon these days.I have been watching movies in the class with batchmates and offline (in my room) from 264 GB of world cinema treasure which I got from M.Phil friend who is also a movie freak.It all started with Dancer in the Dark.I didn’t cry for the movie because I was watching with my classmates else probably I would have.Anyways coming to the point why I am starting this blog series.This is to catch up with some really amazing cinema I grew up watching.I am not talking about the 80′s and early 90′s Bollywood movies which I used to watch with the whole family every Thursday and Friday in the Open air theatre in Pune Army Cinema hall.The foldable steel chairs were the most uncomfortable seating to watch movies but it was better than sitting on the floor in the front.I am talking about movies that sit on your mind throughout your life and make such an impact that it shapes your thoughts and sometimes even your life.I started watching tamil movies after Dad bought the Sony VCP (Video Cassette Player) which he brought from Thailand during his UN mission to Cambodia.Coming up in the series are movies that made huge impact on me which still reflects on my thinking process.For some reason BOLLYWOOD movie made a relatively less impact on me(except in the cases of Lagaan , 3 idiots and Jaane bhi do yaaron , Parineeti (Om Puri) [NOT parineeta] , Kurrent [Om puri again] and also Raj Kapoor’s Shri 420 ).It was more of KOLLYWOOD and HOLLYWOOD that captured my imagination during my childhood though I have seen more of BOLLYWOOD.

Guna :   This was the movie how I got introduced to Kamal Haasan when I was 8-9 years of age during my summer vacation in Chennai(we used to spend summer vacations in Tamil Nadu) at my Nanaji’s home.My uncle who was also watching the movie on our VCP was praising about Kamal’s Acting Skills.That’s how I came to know it was Kamal Haasan.Before that I used to be a fan of Amir Khan ,  Amitabh Bachan , Mithun Chakroborty and strangely Shatrughan Sinha too.This movie is about a mentally retarded son of a prostitute somewhere in Andhra Pradesh.He is being used by the drug dealers and smugglers and car breaking due to his key breaking skills.He lives in his own imagination according to which he believes he is an incarnation of Shiva and waits for Goddess Parvati to come in the form of a Girl whom he calls as Abirami.Guna one day sees a beautiful rich girl giving alms to beggars in a temple.He believes she is the Abirami of his life.He kidnaps the girl keeps her as hostage in a remote cave where he expresses his love which is very unique in world cinema.After a while the rescue party (her dad’s colleagues) comes to save the girl only for removing the last hurdle in capturing the vast money from her dad’s empire.They had already killed her dad too.The movie ends with both Guna and the girl dieing while trying to escape from her dad’s corrupt colleagues.Many of us might have seen this movie knowing the actor in the movie is Kamal Haasan but I got introduced to Kamal Haasan with this movie so imagine the impact it would have made on me that too at the age when I was a brat.Following is a song from the movie which I believe is very unique in it’s structure and composition.

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Travellers and Magicians (The Movie)

This is the first movie from the treasure of some 200 movies I received from my friend.Infact when I asked which movie to start from he suggested this movie to me.

The movie is by Khyentse Norbu who is a reincarnate of Lama.This movie is the first take from the perspective of an Himalayan Monk.The script is beautiful and the kernel of the movie are two parallel stories running together.A young government official named Dondup played by Tshewang Dendup is bitten by the American dream and wants to leave his boring village at any cost.He is fascinated by Land of Opportunities and Hot Girls in America.Something very similar to my Onsite Dreams during my career as software enginee which never materialised.He tries to reach the capital Thimpu which happens to be a very arduous journey due to not so connected roadways.He meets few co-travellers on the way whom he dislikes except a girl who is the daughter of paper-maker.The second story (parallel to the traveller,Dondup) is that of a Magician (Tashi) comes in the form of installments from the Monk(a co-traveller with Dondup) who tells the story at places where they stop to rest.The story turns out to be a mirroring Dondup’s attraction towards the paper selling girl.A must watch for movie lovers who love to watch movies on their laptops late night with all lights OFF and strictly no noise and popcorns.

There was one camera shot which I liked in particular in the movie.The one in which Dondup walks down a hill and across the bridge.It is a single shot and the camera moves along with the character almost till the middle of the bridge.Not extraordinary though good to watch.

There was one particular scene in the movie when it gives the chills equivalent to a thrilling horror movie.The scene in which Tashi after giving poison to the old man waits outside for the old man to die.The old man undergoes severe pain but refuses to die as the poison turns ineffective enough to kill him.The old man’s wife comes to Tashi and asks how long it will take in a RED colored GHO and the tone of her little scary.

Dondup the Traveller and his attraction(distraction)

Tashi the Magician and his Attraction(distraction)

The Monk with the Dragon cap - The Story Teller

Apart from that both the stories had different cinematography.Dondup’s (Traveller) story is shot in real-life colors and Tashi’s(Magician’s) part with a little hazy look of a dream sequence and green and brown hue to it.Forgive me for lack of accurate terminologies as I am still a learner.The cinematographer is Alan Kozlowski who is also the cinematographer for some famous Hollywood movies like Independence day and Volcano

StoryTelling Technique The story telling technique employed was STORY WITHIN A STORY which goes three levels deep.For more about this movie click here.

I liked the ending lines in the movie “The Peach Blossom is beautiful but you see it’s only beautiful only because it’s temporary”