The Healing Power of Time

One of things that has always made me change my initial reaction to almost everything is the age old fact about the super healing qualities of time. Time heals everything...mighty dangerous words if you ask me. Good or bad no matter how you look at things it's bound to change after some time. and if that is the case then is your reaction in the present incorrect or will it take some years for you to come up with an instant reaction that is not incorrect?

Like for instance take some of the films that we like or liked some time ago. Looking at them in a new perspective changes the way we reacted, doesn't it? I loved Dil Chahta Hain when it came out but now when I look back barring Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan's track I don't like anything else in the film. I recall people going crazy about DCH and catching it like 10 times in a month but I never got around watching it more than once. I have a it on DVD but never got around watching it again. Another film I can think of is Minority Report. Hated it the first time around but over the years have started enjoying it with every viewing. Why? Don't have the foggiest. Silence of the Lambs is now one of the films I visit quite often even though I left it midway the first time I saw it. The first thing that comes to your mind when you Silence of the Lambs is the chemistry between Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins but on closer viewing you'd notice they just have three or four scenes together.

My changing preferences doesn't alter anything about these films; it's just that some times we like things for reasons we have no clue about and similarly start hating something for reasons unknown. But what happens when you witness something so stupid that you have no clue why it was made in the first place and the fact that maybe time will forgive it and make it acceptable just drives you nuts? Yes..ladies and gents I am talking about Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag. I won't bore you with the details but it's bad. I was just thinking that what if all the asinine films that one survives grow on you after some time...?

What if you people start talking about RGV Ki Aag, Cash, Eklavya, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Toofan, Jadugar, Sone Pe Suhaga, Delhii Heights, Mangal Pandey, Phool Aur Kaante, Aasmaan Se Ooncha, Kala Dhanda Gore Log, etc. in the same manner I realized how time made me change my opinion. All I can say is be afraid....be very afraid.

Holy Smoke

I finally saw Jane Champion’s Holy Smoke. I had been intending to view Holy Smoke for a long time now but never really got around. Holy Smoke features Kate Winslet as Ruth, an Australian who on a visit to India gets hooked on to a Baba. She feels that she’s the chosen one and decides to stay back in India much to the anger of her parents. Her mother comes down to India to cajole her back telling that her father is on this deathbed. Ruth considers it but finally decides that maybe it was meant to this way and tells her mother that maybe next time should be better. The mother gets pissed off and runs off; while being chased in the gullies she runs out of breath and finally gets her way when Ruth decided to accompany her mother back. Her family is surprised to see the rebel Ruth in a sari now and can’t make up their mind if this is one of her latest fads or if she really means to become a Sanyasin.

The family snoops around and calls in PJ Waters (Harvey Keital), an exit counselor. He treats women who are infatuated with baba’s, god men and cult gurus. He has a three-day program and things get messy once he lands up in Oz with Neil Diamond playing in the background. A fast-talking, one liner cracking American that PJ is pisses Ruth to no end but she agrees to be a part of his three exoneration program. They shack up in a trailer in the middle of nowhere. The first day they talk as PJ isolates her, the second day he ties her sari to a tree and forces her to roam around in almost nothing and by the third day PJ is madly attracted to Ruth. Ruth manages to confuse PJ and by the end of it you don’t know who is doing what except that both actors are exploring their characters deepest fantasies. PJ’s girlfriend lands up to check on him but is shocked to see Ruth naked on the couch and PJ asking her for some more time. In a bizarre twist of fate the hunter becomes hunted with PJ dressed in Ruth’s flaming red one piece party dress and chasing Ruth across the Australian outback proclaiming his love for her. Holy Smoke finally ends with Ruth and her mother working in India and PJ back with girlfriend. They exchange letters; Ruth tells him that she loves him and PJ informs her that he’s honored and that he is writing his second book about a man who finds his angel.

One of the biggest reasons to see Holy Smoke was Kate Winslet; I love her work and consider her to be one of the finer actors around. She never shies away from doing anything and often ends up picking interesting characters. Right from Heavenly Creatures to Sense and Sensibility to the recent Little Children, Kate Winslet is a treat to watch. She is what the critics call a ‘brave’ actor. Any actor who does anything half way decent is a brave person if you ask me for it’s not easy to stupid things in front of a 100 people and make it look as serious as signing the Kyoto agreement. Holy Smoke has an entire full frontal sequence and Kate Winslet is so confident that one forgets she’s not wearing anything! The film might have it's share of problems but kate Winslet make it watchable.

These days it’s rare to come across a film that features Keitel in a longish role. He does walk on parts in many big films but that’s just about it. No more Holy Smoke, Piano, Reservoir Dogs or Bad Lieutenant for him and sadly for us as well. An article once described Harvey Keitel as “Robert De Niro’s contemporary but only darker…”, the article further noted that had De Niro not become as famous as he is, he’d have been doing what Keitel does. Well I can’t say much about the second statement but the first one holds a lot of water. Being the non-leading man types has allowed people like Gene Hackman and Harvey Keitel do a great deal of experimentation.

The best story about Keitel that read was that his wife was teaching acting and one of her students came up with a script that he wanted her to read and comment on. The student’s friend wanted to make a quickie in Black and White and had asked him to play one of the roles. Keitel’s wife read it and freaked out; she showed it to Keitel and he freaked out. A few weeks later Keitel was producing the student’s friend independent feature which went on to become Reservoir Dogs and no prizes for guessing the name for student’s friend!

Gone South!

The biggest problems the electronic news media faces these days is the lack of ‘real’ news breaking events to fill up the 24 hours. No wonder then at times a kid falling into an open manhole or people who stitched Abhishek Bachchan’s Jodhpuri coat make it to the headlines. So it’s no surprise that the national media is going berserk over Rajnikath’s new film. The desire to add more news worthiness to this event is making them conduct surveys and asking people if south Indian actors are the real superstars or if Rajni can beat Mr. Bachchan’s when it comes to popularity? Well, the only things that emerges from this is the realization that is finally dawning upon most of us- Indian cinema is not just Hindi films even though the guys at IIFA wouldn’t agree!

The fact that Hindi film industry and the southern cousin have been scratching each other’s backs for some time shouldn’t be new to people. Many Hindi films were remade into Tamil hits and vice versa. But perhaps the realization that Southern films were cooler didn’t go down well with the Hindi filmwallahs. Pick up any big Tamil, Telegu or Malyalam hit and you’d see the point I’m trying to make here. Even in the realm of commercial films the south films are way ahead than anyone else in terms of script, packaging and execution. This is what perhaps made the Hindi guys come up with the stupid line that ‘southern films are technically better...’ People use the same darn equipment and mostly the same crew so how can something be different or better on the basis of the tools? The statement is perhaps the only way the Hindi film industry will acknowledge someone else’s superiority.

In the recent past I’ve been brushing up on my Tamil films and boy am I impressed of what? Most Tamil directors write their own scripts, which according to me is a characteristic that really speaks volumes about a person’s talent. Vishnuvardhan, Bala, Shankar and Gautham Menon seem to be in perfect control of their craft. Most of the Tamil films, commercial or halfway ‘different’, are prime examples of great packaging. Everyone knows that the publicity and packaging is what deciphers how big a hit a film would eventually be. The recent Tamil film that made me sit up was Shankar’s Anniyan. It was as commercial as it gets feature liberal dosages of great songs, fights and what have you but even though it was ‘commercial’ film the theme and the story made me realize that Hindi films are really lacking in many departments. What makes the film more enjoyable is the ease with which Vikram switches between the three characters he portrays. In addition there was Pithamagan (a masterpiece if you ask me) Parttiyal (kicks ass!) Kaakha Kaakha and Ghajini (being remade in Hindi by Aamir Khan) are way better than any recent Hindi hit. One has to watch films like Virumandi and Mahanadi to know what commercial cinema can really achieve.

I saw Sivaji yesterday. The fact that I managed to watch a first day first show of a Rajnikanth film is some thing that I never thought I’d be able to do and that too in Delhi out of all the places. People were flocking to the malls at 9 in the am! The mass hysteria for the film is there to be seen- the cinema halls down south are booked for the next one-month, people are flocking to Delhi to catch the film, the film is running to packed houses in Malaysia as well, the first day earned 3 crores in Chennai...

Though Sivaji may not be the best film ever made and how it manages to hold the viewer for 3 hours even though the plot is thinner than a wafer is a testimony of Rajnikanth’s popularity. Watch it and enjoy the experience- you may not follow some lines, you may not understand why sensible people go crazy when Rajni comes on the screen, you not accept that Rajni's God here and a cult in Japan but the experience is something else.

Ocean's Thirteen

I was a little confused and a lot surprised when I first saw Ocean’s Eleven. Confused for I couldn’t understand why many didn’t like the film and surprised when it did too well. A lot of people thought that the Ocean’s Eleven was a stupid film. It looked decent enough to me- 11 misfits in society who are unwilling to let go of the prankster in them. The surprise success of the film must have made the studio realize that they had stuck gold and this cow could be milked more. Some time later they came up with Ocean’s Twelve. The boys went to Europe this time around to make a quick buck in order to repay the casino boss they had robbed in the previous part. That was a lousy film but if memory serves me right made more money than the first one. So they then decided to make a third one. The underlying reason for everyone to return was that the script was too good to pass.

OK.

Considering that Ocean’s series will never be remembered for it’s script or cinematic genius, I was almost fooled into believing that they must really have a very decent script to come back.

I was wrong.

The only time 13 is going to be lucky for the Ocean franchise would be the opening weekend at the box office. Too much of the same thing can be a let down in addition to making you realize that you have been endorsing stupidity all this while and Ocean’s Thirteen superbly manages to do the needful. The camera movements, the stylized cutting, the music and one liners now look so jaded that even the actors seem to be doing everyone a favor. Every time Danny Ocean or Rusty or Linus or anyone cracks a joke it’s the music that tells us that the joke’s over and we should perhaps laugh. Julia Roberts is conspicuously absent from this one for I don’t she will ever forgive Steven Soderbergh for making her look like an extra in part 2. There is only one woman in the cast is Ellen Barkin who plays Al Pacino’s side kick. She looks like a 50-year-old Cameron Diaz but more importantly Barkin looks lost. Al Pacino, who seems to be forever waiting for instructions from the director, portrays Ocean’s nemesis. What could have been a walk in the park for an actor of Pacino’s caliber turns out to be an exercise in hamming. Brad Pitt looks does a great job following his brief- stand there and look good. Matt Damon is angry for it seems like he wants to grow up but isn’t allowed to.

The usual suspects are all there but few of them like Elliot Gould hardly has anything to do; Don Cheadle spends most of the time drilling underground so you never see him in good light; Bernie Mac does his black man bit and looks happy, the Chinese guy now looks like an overgrown kid and about the others the less said, the better. These boys look like they had a tough time fitting in their old shoes for they all look like bored husbands now.

All the recent films that have raked in millions at the box office have one common feature- they all look manufactured byu bored officials on some run down assembly line. Spiderman-3, Ocean’s Thirteen, Pirates-3 all seem to be made for one sole reason- continued run of the successful brand name. With everything looking the same the audiences will soon loose interest but the sadder truth is that once you see the sequels and think back, you realize that the first part was stupid too. And trust me, you don’t want to look stupid whenever an installment comes out!

Image Courtesy: www.movieblog.com

Cheeni Kum

I finally saw Cheeni Kum with much trepidation. I say that for two reasons (a) anything half way different is lauded as the next big thing and (b) the film got crazy reviews. But that’s true for most films these days and I think the term good cinema is almost oxymoronic. Back to Cheeni Kum that is a ‘sugar free’ tale of love between a 64-year-old man and a 34-year woman. The man’s a chef and is genetically loud and boisterous. He is unforgiving about 90% of the times just like his quirky mother. The only time this desi Gordon Ramsay is chilled out is the time he spends with his eight-year-old neighbor whom he fondly (?) calls Sexy. The May-December couple meets in London where the dude has his restaurant and fall in love. Finally they decide to hook up and the girl’s father (four years younger than the man she intends to hook with) obviously has major problems. He pseudo-Gandhian goes on a Satyagraha to dissuade his daughter only to give in at an opportune moment.

The reviews were very bittersweet to Ad-man Balki’s maiden effort and the only major hassle they had was with the second half of the film. I didn’t have a major issue with the second half or the first half. The only problem I had with the script was the over smart eight year old girl who wants to see adult DVD’s. The character is suffering from cancer but still I don’t like the thought of terminally ill characters living their entire life in 14 reels. And on top of it I don’t like over-smart kids in films. People might find the antics of this kiddo bittersweet and perhaps cute but the irritating kid is like a win-zipped version of everything obnoxious and manages to piss the hell out of you at times when you don’t expect it. I have this major complaint against writers/ filmmakers who want to put everything in one film.

The reviews went to town saying that the Satyagraha angle doesn’t work and rightfully so. It’s so asinine in it’s execution that Paresh Rawal ends up looking like he wandered off from a different film set to this one accidentally. Had the director handled the reservations of a father watching his daughter wanting to a man elder than himself, the ending would have looked more up market. There’s nothing wrong in this kind of an ending, it’s a Hindi film and what else were Nikhat Kazmi and Co. expecting? It’s almost like Dil Chata Hain revisited; the last reel was as filmy as it could get. Everything was OK and acceptable but the ending…what was the need for Mr. Bachchan’s character to howl like a kid when he learnt about his eight year old neighbor’s tragic death and tell his mother that he wants sexy (the kid’s nickname)!

I liked Cheeni Kum in spite of the issues I might seem to have. It was perhaps because I went in with such low expectations that I was bound to like it! This is my approach to Hindi films now- have zero expectations and voila every film would end up being a nice experience! The film is exactly the kind of film I’d love to see Mr. Bachchan in. He is 100 times better than his Sexy Sam from Kabhie Alvida Nahin Kehna or the loud defense lawyer from Shootout at Lokhandwala. Some people might have an issue with Mr. Bachchan’s at times over the top histrionics but it’s OK for he’s perhaps the biggest star of them all and it suits him. And in case you really want to see Mr. Bachchan go over the top then see Black again! These are the kinds of roles that he should do as opposed to his Sexy Sam in which he ends up looking like a glorified extra, something that doesn’t go well with stature. The inter-action between Mr. Bachchan and Zohra Sehgal, who plays his mother, is peppy most of the times and has numerous nice moments.

Recently voted the best-dressed man in India by a magazine, the retro-sexual, moto-sexual or whatever the hell Abhishek Bachchan is this week sadly isn’t a patch on Mr. Bachchan, who looks dapper in Cheeni Kum. Tabu and Mr. Bachchan share a very instant and likable chemistry. These two wonderful acting talents skillfully support the transformation of their characters from friends to lovers. Having said this I think Tabu needs to do something about her acting. A very fine and competent actor but she ends up playing Tabu in almost everything she does. This character of Nina could very well be Mumtaz from Chandni Bar in different clothes. It’s rather tragic and my brother summed it up- Tabu looks nice only when she cries.

Image Courtesy: www.cheenikum.com

Hit Me Baby One More Time...

George Bernard Shaw famously pointed out; the two tragedies of life are not getting what you want and getting what you want. Most films when made are accompanied by hundreds of prayers; it should get the money back, it should recover the cost, hope it makes some profit, wish it became the biggest hit of the year, hope I get more work, etc. Once the film becomes a freak hit, sequels are planned for that means everyone would make money and load of it. Johnny Depp was paid 10 million for the first Pirates of the Caribbean and with the subsequent films his remuneration has doubled even though the quality of part 2 wasn’t a patch on part 1.

The first sequel churned out by Hollywood was 1916's Fall of a Nation, a follow-up to D.W. Griffith's wildly successful 1915 feature Birth of a Nation. Legend has it that Fall of a Nation was written by Thomas Dixon, whose book The Clansman was turned into Birth of a Nation. Dixon didn't get any money out of the film, so he threw together Fall of a Nation to cash in -- and started a Hollywood tradition.

I think the earliest sequel in India was Nigahen that was a follow up to Nagina. The second part didn’t do that good and it wasn’t till now that sequels have become like the staple diet. In the recent past the sequels have made so much money that people are threatening to start film franchisees like the West. Once in a while I think sequels are a good idea, a little more of the good thing won’t kill anyone. Also that in some cases like Munnabhai MBBS, the characters warrant their presence in different situations; the result Lage Raho Munnabhai’s innovative approach. But then when economics is the driving force I don’t think any reasoning could work. Phir Hera Pheri wasn’t a patch on the first one but I think it made enough money for a third one to hit us soon. Awara Paagal Deewana or Deewane Hue Paagal…same difference! Similar was the case with Vastav 2 (I don’t even recall the crazy title it had) and Darna Zaroori Hain was a freak case so let me not get into that.

Hindi films are standing at a crossroads; these crossroads are coming too often and too soon! The first lot of third installment of hit films has set the ball rolling for new times in Hindi cinema. The first film to have a third installment in India would be Krrish 2 that for the uninitiated would actually be Koi Mil Gaya 3. In the first film Hrithik Roshan played two variations of the same character, in the second part he was playing three versions and in the third one he’d end up playing four. Hmm by the time Koi Mil Gaya 10 comes out Mr. Rakesh Roshan wouldn’t really need any other actor in the film. Talk about cost cutting in something driven by the sheer desire of making money! Just Hrithik Thump Roshan in a film…wow that by itself would be a record. No wait there was that Sunil Dutt experimental film Yaadein in which there was just Mr. Dutt.

The sequel department of Bombay is really working overtime. There is Dhoom 3 in the pipeline and rumor has it that YashRaj might have already planned Dhoom –the 12th with Abhishek’s son. The son of the producer of the funny Andaz Apna Apna wants to make a sequel, Hanuman 2 should be ready by the end of this year, Munnabhai is all set to go to Amerika once the Special TADA court’s judge allows him to, Don 2.2 (that .2 for the new version of the older remake, my idea not SRK’s!) promises to evade the police of 11 nations to get the don back.

Everyone knows that the sequels rarely match up to the original. It’s an unwritten truth like the statement that the book was better than the film. If Hindi films are doing what the West is doing then this could just be the tip of iceberg. Can you imagine what’d happen if they start making prequels? Who the hell wants to know how Rohit’s (Koi Mil Gaya) father met his mother!?

Cinema Last

The mushrooming multiplexes in the country are a result of a chain reaction initiated by Mr. Ajay Bijli of the PVR chain. Amongst many ‘firsts’ this chain was the unparalleled leader in exhibition business of cinemas. PVR proudly claims that for them ‘cinema first’.

Please visit one of their halls to experience anything but that.

Let’s start with the very first thing one does in order to watch film- book tickets. If have you ever tried the option of Internet booking on PVR’s website you’d notice that they charge a ‘convenience fee’. They levy a ten rupees fee for booking the tickets online while I think that online book should be cheaper. So if 100 people book online per day that’s 1000 bucks a day, 30,000 a month and 3,60,000 a month! Wow! This is definitely a first.

OK once you brave the traffic, fight it out foe the parking spot and finally arrive at the cinema hall you are treated like the scum of this earth. In the name of security a guard will frisk you as if you the pole that he’s dancing to! They don’t allow you bags, cameras, laptops, etc. They don’t allow cigarettes, which is OK with me but if you are chewing gum they ask you to spit it out. They will make you empty your pockets and only allow cell phones and nothing else. I don’t blame Mr. Bijli for not visiting Adlabs or Fame in Bombay; they too frisk, check but allow normal things like handbags and laptops inside! I understand this being Delhi he can’t have his way as far as security is concerned but at least allow me to chew gum!

Every show will have at least three people who are in for a rude shock when they see someone else is already warming their seats. I can’t figure out why the hell do you need people to guide you to your seat, isn’t that printed and isn’t the hall well lit along the aisle for any idiot to find the seat? OK in spite of all this if you have someone to guide you why do they goof up!

When the lights fade out and the screen comes to life you are hit by some meaningless ads instead of the trailers or the ‘feature presentation.’ I know they need that money to run the fancy show, pay for the rentals but does Mr. Bijli intend to take all that money from me!? As it is he charges the heaven for the tickets… anyway they have four digits printed on the ticket called the show timing but who the hell worries about that little thingy? No film will ever start on time.

When the film finally starts you are in for yet another rude shock- the film’s print has been massacred by careful handling by the unique cinema lovers who work at PVR. I saw Spiderman-3 first day-second show; Shootout at Lokhandwala on the second day both the films had more scratches than a car crash survivor. For the money that they charge the least they can do is make sure that we don’t get third world treatment.

During interval you make a beeline for the ‘concession stand’ where you will get everything from candy to four types of overpriced sweet carbonated water, nachos, corn, Baskin Robbins ice-cream but you can’t get simple black coffee. Sorry sir the friggin machine only spurts out pre-mixed coffee! Some wise guy sued such places for cranking up the price and charging more than the printed MRP of bottled water so India Inc. got together and now charges the same exorbitant price by printing that as the MRP on a bottle specially packed for PVR. (whatever that means!)

Many moons ago Priya used to screen old films in addition to the current crop as part of some festival but now the more things change the more they remain same. There are a hundred screens in Delhi or Mumbai and they all are playing the same crap! Given a choice I still choose Priya over anything else for the sheer beauty of the cinema hall. I haven’t been a DT cinema till now and hope to keep it that way (old story, some other time!)

PVR has a bright future irrespective of the fact that they are at loggerheads with Yashraj Films. I like the way Mr. Bijli plans and I’m sure he has more than the four aces that life dealt him. They have come out with an IPO; they are getting in film production; industry grapevine reveals that Mr. Bijli and Mr. Aamir Khan have tied up to machao some major dhoom. People will need entertainment and will need places to beat the heat. So while your favorite blockbuster plays in an air-conditioned hall in the neighborhood, cinema can actually rue for being last on the priority list.

Ta Ra Rum Puming

The supposed summer blockbuster from Yashraj Films, Ta Ra Rum Pum (TRRP) has fallen flat and how; baring the opening weekend it was all downhill for the film. Maybe they knew they had a loser on their hands or else how the hell do you explain the TV promos that give away almost everything including Saif Ali Khan winning some race! I think the last time an YRF film did so bad was Neal ‘N Nikki but then that was a film made by the studio’s charted accountants. They must have hauled Mr. Aditya Chopra and told him, “Dude we need to show some losses! Let's haul up Uday and Tanisha, send them on a holiday to Canada and while at it why not handicam it and when they get back play the darn thing for just about the entire country!” Neal ‘N Nikki still had the proverbial face saving advertisements that announced to the world that the film is running successfully and that they better watch it at a cinema hall near them; in YRF’s case at “any and every” cinema hall near you! Does the conspicuous absence of the usual ‘running successfully’ ads mean that YRF is embarrassed about TRRP? Or am I not watching enough TV?

I like Aditya Chopra; I like the way Aditya Chopra thinks and operates. I loved his Dilwale and can still watch Mohabatein from any point. The guy has changed the way people make films. Now everyone wants to do everything in house! If he finds something half way decent in you, rest assured you’d still be thanking your lucky stars while he goes ahead and not only plans your film but also releases it at every screen near you and your naani! The studio system that Ram Gopal Verma propagated didn’t succeed as RGV, I think, was only interested in RGV films helmed by RGV wannabes. But with Aditya Chopra that’s really not the case. It’s OK that he might finalize just about everything but he’s also produced a film like Kabul Express in which the director was give a carte blanc to do just what he deemed fit.

Chopra is a demigod who can’t seem to do anything wrong. Sure we all feel angry when YRF bombards the screen and leaves us with hardly any choice but to see their selection of the week whenever they come out with a film. I couldn’t be more surprised when all actors want to be the prized possession of YRF stables for they take such good care of them as if YRF were some leading chain of spas and not a film studio! But tell me something, if half the industry including your father worshiped the ground you walked on, I’m sure you’d also do just whatever the hell your little heart desired.

My only issue with this entire syrupy, sugary YFR family-sized lollipop is that it’s time they realized it’s a business and accepted that little dose of reality. This would make a lot of things easier for the actors who seem to act more while talking about the making of the film than the actual work on the film. I can live with the fact that Mr. Aditya Chopra makes films to make money, keep himself busy and entertain people in the bargain (Dilwale has been running for the 12th consecutive year now) but for the love of god I can’t live with the likes of Mr. Saif Ali Khan or Ms. Rani Mukherjee talking about shooting TRRP in USA as if they were on military duty in Iraq. Guys enjoy the YFR hospitality and don’t look so serious as if though you are doing art a great favor by doing it the YRF way.

Even genius can go wrong some time and just by putting two cute little chipmunks along with Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee, you can't make people throng to the cinema halls. No cute lil kiddo will choose TRRP over Spiderman. Till the next time Mr. Aditya Chopra decides to direct a film I can suggest an alternate career for him- considering that everyone goes ga-ga over YRF’s hospitality maybe Aditya Chopra should invest in hotels. I think Siberia and Alaska would worth checking out in addition to the usual suspects- Poland, England, Germany, France, USA, Australia, Romania, Switzerland, Holland, Brazil, Italy…did I miss some?

Finally you talkin' to me!

So Martin Scorsese finally got his Oscar. What can I say about Scorsese not winning the Oscar that you might have not read anywhere else- the odyssey began twenty-six years ago and after seven snubs, the naked golden guy makes reaches Scorsese’s mantelpiece.

I was wondering should an award be given to someone when the work in consideration is not really that good? Three years ago, when I used to write for a newspaper, on the Oscar eve I wrote an article about Scorsese. He was in the running for statuette for Gangs of New York, which according to me isn’t one of his better films; it didn’t really take off after a mind-blowing opening sequence and it was way too long. The buzz that year was that the Academy realized that they have been unfair towards Scorsese and Gangs… was the perfect opportunity to exonerate themselves. They thought they would award Scorsese’s awesome oeuvre to make-up for lost causes. Lost causes? Yeah! They chose Kevin Costner for moonlighting as a director on Dances With the Wolves over, what many consider, Scorsese’s masterpiece Goodfellas. In the past too Robert Redford’s Ordinary People got the nod over Raging Bull. Today many don’t recall Dances... or Ordinary People and some don’t even know that Kevin Costner actually directed but they still enjoy Goodfells! Remember the awesome Joe Pesci line, “Well make it to go!” I still freak out when I see the How am I funny sequence!

So, is it ok to finally get an award for what may be mediocre as compared to your previous work? Could the Academy have continued to ignore Martin Scorsese for some more time and finally given him a special Oscar to honor a lifetime of brilliance? They did that with Robert Altman, Satyajit Ray while Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock never got a directorial award. Roman Polanski got it for The Pianist and not Chinatown, Russell Crowe got the nod for Gladiator and was over-looked for The Insider as well as A Beautiful Mind; Al Pacino got it after years of being sidelined for Scent of a Woman! Consider this- The Departed is packed with some nice set pieces, good acting, excellent editing and all the markings of a genius director at work but is it really good? The film is a remake of a Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs. They have added and made it kick ass and though there are hardly any traces of the original but it’s still a remake. By that rationale half the Hindi films might as well be considered masterpieces provided they credit the original creators as well, which by the The Departed did!

It was a chance meeting with Martin Scorsese in the year 1996 that shaped the way I approached a career in films. He was in Delhi on his way to meet the Dalai Lama for Kundun and was mentioned in the news. That was it! I called all the hotls the next day and finally tracked him down to Taj. I called them and the girl at the desk didn’t know who the hell Scorsese was. In his custom made Armani suits he looked more like a businessman of the year. The girl put me on to him and the next thing I know I’m speaking to Mr. Scorsese. Yes he does talk faster than a F1 motorist zooming by; his bushy eyebrows make him look like the devil! So all I can think of saying is ‘Welcome to India…’ yes, that’s what I said!! Anyway I told him that I wanted an audience and guess what…he said come on over in an hour. That was that! I couldn’t believe it that Scorsese not only spoke to me but also gave me some time! I rushed to the Taj only to realize that the Taj in consideration was Taj Mansingh and not, as assumed by me, Taj Palace. Anyway twenty minutes later I was in the lobby of Mansingh and on the phone with Scorsese again (wow). He asked me to wait. A few minutes later his secretary walked up to me and inquired about the nature of my meeting. When I told her that I was just a student out off high school and would like to meet Martin Scorsese, she was surprised that young people like me knew about him! She asks if it were OK for me to wait for ten minutes as Marty’s running a little late! Of course I’d wait man! Ten minutes later Marty walks out all of 5ft nothing in his blue Armani and a bluer tie that was immaculately knotted! He shook hands, sat down and ordered some thing to drink.

With a Diet Coke easing me I asked him about the way he chooses subjects. He said that anything that is interesting and not done by him gets him going. He talked about Gangs that he had been trying to put together for almost fifteen years. He had just finished Casino and told me that they were planning a premiere in India and wanted to get Sharon Stone over. I said what about De Niro? He looked at me and smiled; probably wondering if I was OK; how could a young bloke prefer De Niro over Stone!?

He asked me about some good book shops that would stock books on the Dalai Lama, something that he hadn’t read. So I rattled off and before I knew I was with for almost two hours. I interacted with him over a course of three days. I was amazed that such a person could be so humble and down to earth. I used to admire his films but I fell in love with the man. He knows almost everything that is know about films, he’s a walking encyclopedia. I the course of my meeting I asked him if it were really important to go to a film school, I was toying with the idea. He said that there’s a time for it and if you don’t go during that period it’s better that you don’t go. He, of course, passed out of Tisch and also taught at NYU. Oliver Stone was one of his students.

It’s been almost eleven years since that day and I can still recall every detail. It was almost surreal and it really shaped the way I looked at things, I mean cinematic things!

Scorsese not getting an award became cool after some time and when Goodfellas didn’t get him the award, I actually started praying that he shouldn’t get it for mediocrity. The fact that you need to sell out and do things that you don’t like in order to be accepted and this guy here did what he pleased and actually went on to make films that he wanted, made it all worthwhile. My friends would always cite his example that it can all be cool even if you don’t get recognition. There’s still some spark left in him. The zeal was visible in Gangs, got some shape in The Aviator and shined in The Departed; so there’s still a good film left and more importantly he’s still standing while Lucas still believes in the force, Coppola prefers wine to films and Spielberg continues to make millions by setting the box office on fire with ‘commercial’ films! Scorsese said that in his acceptance speech too- had he gotten the Award earlier maybe that’d have altered the way he made films. I now believe that Spielberg really is the golden boy- great commercial successa, criticized for making mushy stuff, all that talk about the young boy in him, etc but gets the Oscar for two of his glorious outings- Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List

At the end of the day I am happy that Mr. Scorsese won but it ain’t right that he got it for what he got. I mean how predictable- the moment they announced that Coppola, Lucas and Spielberg would do the honors I knew that Scorsese would finally get it. But in some way it’s a true celebration- usually the Oscars celebrated Scorsese; everyone who won thanked him, people he gave the lifetime achievement awards thanked him in return, everyone wished he won- and this time around Marty celebrates the Oscars.

sketch courtesy- surender singh/ showboatentertainment.com