TV

My last post was written a long time ago. I posted it recently only because it was lounging around in the drafts section for too long. But polishing it up with the IMDB links and adding a few newer movies to the list led me another stream of thought. What sitcoms or comedy TV shows would I recommend to others?

Turns out it's a more difficult question to answer than I imagined. I realized that I've not followed any Indian TV series in more than 8~9 years. And to think that I've been outside India only half of the time. Most shows are generally crap... everywhere. Even then, it's not difficult to end up with a list of around 5-10 good American shows, 2-3 British ones (I've only just begun looking for them) which one could watch and follow.

Very few good Indian shows come to my mind. Most are not recent. And since I only speak Hindi and Marathi, I wouldn't want to comment on shows from other languages. But I'd wager there are much more good Marathi shows than Hindi shows. Probably because a relatively smaller audience, and even smaller funding opportunities automatically weed out the bad?

It also leads me to wonder about sitcoms. I now realize how language is an important factor to humour. When we crack jokes in Marathi or Hindi, they are generally puns, or play on words. Probably my lack of a good literary grounding in these languages is the cause for that. My knowledge is limited to some of the works of P. L. Deshpande.  I recently re-listened to some of his recordings (where he reads out and performs his own essays) and was struck by how different it is to what one sees now. He includes puns and play on words, yes, but his jokes are better written. There is a premise, a lead up and then a pay-off.

The better comedies in Marathi (405 Anandvan, Gangadhar Tipre, ... oh-god I can't remember any more!) tended to sprinkle it with some serious-er moments, but always followed the golden rule of not having the characters in on the joke. For the characters, the situation at hand was something of concern... they didn't realize it was funny to others because they were invested in its outcome. Which makes it so much more enjoyable.

Among the many gripes I have with Indian tv and cinema is that to me it seems everyone is trying to ape the flash-bang-hollywood movies and popular tv. We should rather figure out what we do better and do it.

Here's a parting thought: Watch shows like 30 Rock, Community, Doctor Who, Sherlock, Coupling, and even The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. Now how many recent Indian shows can you think of that make laugh out as loud (Ok.. that IS subjective I know). Or rather, think of which show you can quote from and have someone else instantly recognize it. "Sorry Shaktiman" is one, but is only said ironically. :-/

[Edit: The post and thought was mostly inspired because I spent some time in an improv troupe, and some people I know from there write 'notes' (on fb, so can't link here) or blogs on such analysis often.]

Bollywood

Once upon a time, I got really mad at how clueless certain people I knew were about movies from India. They knew the 'industry' was called Bollywood, but almost none had seen an entire movie. So, I wrote a little note on my Facebook page and shared it. It was a list of movies I would want my friends to watch, if they wanted to get up to speed with how Bollywood is. And the kind of movies I like to watch.

My point being, there are millions of bad movies made by Hollywood each year, but everyone talks just about the cool, slick, big-budget ones. On the other hand, everyone just gets stuck at the idea of songs in a movie, and people refuse to process anything else when they hear of Indian cinema. I mean, why are giant metallic robots that turn into cars okay, but 2 people singing not so? (http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2165) Yea, most movies are bad, but there are millions of other things wrong with them, which probably have nothing to do with them having song and dance routines.

#rant over, phew.

So if I had to begin showing movies to my friends, which ones would I start with? In no particular order, I drew up a list.

1) Lagaan: Once upon a time in India :- A typical Bollywood movie about how a village must form a cricket team and beat the British administrators at their game in order to be exempt from taxes. This was nominated for the "Best Foreign Movie" at the Oscars in 2002, and is complete with "oh i feel happy, lets sing; oh i need to convince him to help me, lets sing; oh I'm jealous, lets sing and dance".

2) Dil Chahta Hai : A story of 3 friends; about how they grow up after they graduate and how their life takes them apart, but still keeps them close. (Does that even make sense to you ? should improve my description skills)

3) Lakshya (Goal / Aim ): An aimless high schooler finds direction in life after he signs up for the Indian Army. Set amidst the Kargil War, 1998, a story of growing up.

4) Rang De Basanti (Paint it saffron - saffron symbolizes sacrifice) : A story of a group of 20-somethings who are disenchanted and disillusioned by the government and "the system". Inspired by the lives of the revolutionaries on whom they are filming a documentary, they decide to take matters into their hands.

5 & 6) Sarkar (Government) and Sarkar Raj: These two movies are a brilliant example of how you can take a story and adapt it to the Indian setting. These are based on the Godfather series. These movie are Bollywood, but have no song and dance sequences. Surprising, right?

7) Omkara: Adapted from Shakespeare's Othello. Probably non-Indians might not appreciate it so much, since the language and setting is typical rustic Indian. I like it for how well it has been adapted to make the story seem Indian.

8) Sholay: A remake of the movies "The Seven Samurai" and "The Magnificent Seven". Made in 1974, this movie is again a brilliant adaptation of the story. A classic which almost any Indian guy will have in his top 5 or top 10 list. I saw the Japanese movie before the Hollywood remake and was quite disheartened by how close it stuck to the Japanese version. Sholay is whole loads more fun, and extremely well made. Any "true Indian" will become your best friend if you can quote the water tank scene. (Don't test this if your life is at stake though.)

9) Swades (Motherland): The story of an Indian guy who's settled in the US, but remembers why he loves home and India. A really simple story, which probably speaks to me more since I find myself asking the same questions. About home, India, US, life and so on. Some day, a blog post on all that too. Though I do have major gripes with the narratives, the story is all about why the guy wants to come back to India... I would have loved it if the story talked about life abroad without resorting to stereotypes.

10) Sarfarosh: An action/ romantic movie, typically bollywood with songs, dance, action, comedy and so on. The story of a cop who decides to tackle rising terrorism in Mumbai and surrounding areas. A well made film that, if my memory serves right, has fewer jarring segues than most films.

All these still count as typical 'mainstream' Hindi cinema (we have 22 official languages, according to Wikipedia anyway, and an independent film industry in almost each language). I haven't listed the newer new-age/artsy/multiplex-fare movies which would appeal to foreign audiences easier precisely because they seem to be heavily influenced by foreign cinema. (But "Dev D", Ek Chaalis Ki Last Local", "Johnny Gaddar", "Khoya Khoya Chand", "Peepli Live" are delicious bits of movies that need more watching.)

Typical Bollywood fare, which I dislike but is somehow popular among non resident Indians and non Indians, include "Om Shanti Om"(A tale of re-incarnation + Ultra bollywood mish-mash), "Devdas" (how falling in love makes you a stupid idiotic drunk wasted guy) , "Kal Ho Na Ho"(ok, this one is probably good, but I still don't like it as much), "Koi Mil Gaya" (A rip-off of E.T, fused with the character Forrest Gump?), "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun" (A glorified wedding video).

There are other movies that are over-the-top but self aware movies which are quite fun (Main Hoon Na, Tashan, Andaz Apna Apna - I've lost count how many times I've seen it) but they rely heavily on pop-culture references (hasn't anyone wondered how pop-culture always tends to refer to stuff that happens in the US/UK?), puns and play on words. Things quite hard to translate to foreign audiences.

 But this is a list of movies that are pretty much "Bollywood". If you know any more, add to the list :)

Read. Write. Watch

I got a sense that Salman Rushdie has a rollicking time writing his novels. While reading 'Shalimar the Clown' and 'Midnight's Children', I could feel him having a sly grin on his face, as he makes the stories jump through various hoops. One review blurb for "Shalimar.." says that it is Tarantino-esque ... and I guess I completely agree with that.

Also, I read news (rumours?) that 'Midnight's Children' is being adapted into a movie. Awesome! A much better movie to look out for than a potential Shantaram adaptation. I guess I'm "getting the hots" for books based on "magical realism". I just finished Yann Martel's "Life of Pi" a few minutes ago (literally, not more than 20 mins) and I am still stunned... in a good way. (I guess I should re-read these books and improve my vocabulary.) You know how there are movies where one scene, or a couple of lines just change the way you see the whole thing (Bruce Willis checking out that stain on his shirt in Sixth Sense)? Or which drive home the point of the movie (Camera panning to the corridor while De Niro talks on the phone in Taxi Driver).

"Life of Pi" has two such sentences. I didn't notice the first... or rather, didn't think too much about it. The second one (which occurs almost at the end) bothered me. And it was one of the reasons I looked to Wikipedia, and then when it hit me, it hit me hard (and now I'm writing this).

Moral of the above 3 paragraphs - read all the three books mentioned. Right now. (Though, you could go after you finish reading up my post. Thanks.)

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Pradeep has commented quite a few times about my writing having changed. I felt I knew what he meant, but couldn't pinpoint it. But one of things I did notice was that my posts have become exclusively about me. (Narcissist alert!) Everything I have written about here recently is solely about what I saw, what I thought and so on. I guess I would explain that by saying that I don't feel "right" in saying how things should be, and how people should behave. I only want to lay out my experiences and thought processes.

On the other hand, when I try to write the funnies, I go for the hyperbole. I've realised that sarcasm doesn't work on the internet. Not for me.  (Thank you TSF for teaching me that.) It's seems a smart-assed, I'm-too-good-for-you attitude when read and is quite off-putting. And then the commenters promptly descend into name-calling and fighting with the post author and each other. (Goodwin's law!)

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How come no one has realised yet that Indian movies are overly long and that the editors and script writers are highly unused? I get the TV channel "Zing" here, which goes extreme lengths to show only the bad-ness of 80's and 90's cinema. Every movie then was a series of sketches. The details varied. A set of sketches was separated from the others by a song. For example:

Bad guys are introduced doing something bad, abrupt cut, hero / heroine is introduced. Each separately. One gets a song. Sometimes the hero gets fight sequence to show his bad-assness. . Random beats in this segment are punctuated by bad guy doing more bad-assery. Finally, once the girl has finally fallen in love with guy, the bad guy does something to directly affect good guy. Good guy pissed. Revenge time. Big fight sequence. Good guy wins.

Even the new Hindi films, although closer to the 2 hour mark, are filled with such sketches and still feel overly long. Sigh.

Lost in Translation

I was talking to this guy from Morocco, and I asked him when he had come to France. He says. "On half of March." This seems easy to understand, but when conversing, its not easy to realise that half of March means 15th of March.

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At lunch time, I'm surrounded by French speakers. They all can speak English, but speaking in French comes more naturally to them. And in a raging discussion, halting English does not have the same effect. I'm let in on the topic from time to time. Someone realises that I don't understand French yet and am offered a translation and an opportunity to contribute. But when the details and the flow of thought is not clearly understood, the whole thing appears confusing. And sometimes also very funny. Getting only small glimpses of the entire conversation makes you wonder how the thoughts were connected. Unfortunately, I can only share what I was translated for my benefit.


The first topic I heard was about a love story that everyone in France is expected to read in school. To which I commented having read works of some French authors. This turned to a discussion of French writers and philosophers. And how many people have no idea about Indian writers. I was told about this author who wrote an essay on how people should deal with each other and something about Corsica (I am guessing it was Rousseau, thanks to help from Wikipedia.)


The conversation returns to French and I am left to my own thoughts. After some time, I am told the they are discussing about how the tax on fuel might increase. In order to regulate the greenhouse effect. They ask me about fuel prices in India. I respond and slowly the conversation moves back to French. I'm left to my thoughts again. Then I realise that they are talking about colors. And their gesturing and pointing suggests that they are talking about hair.


My inquisitive look elicits a response: One of them says that he is explaining how his hair is not exactly black, but is a different shade. They remark about me having some gray hair. I smile, saying I know about it.


I wonder how all these thoughts were connected.


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For my birthday, on 5th Sept, we went to Cannes to watch Inglourious Basterds. In France, only some places show the movie in its original form ("Version Originale") with French subtitles. They rest show the movies dubbed in French. We did not know that the movie features dialogue in English, French and German (and Italian too!) So when we did go see the movie, we thought that the first scene in French was just Tarantino's brilliant ploy to keep the audience confused before he reveals his ideas. Once the dialogue shifted to English, the subtitles in French began. We realised things were wrong only when the dialogue shifted to German.


The subtitles were still in French!


Its an interesting experience to figure out a movie in an unknown language with no subtitles. Only bits of the dialogue is in English, and you have to rely on your meagre translating skills to figure what certain French words might mean. I still enjoyed the movie, because Tarantino still manages to make viewing it interesting. But I so wish I had seen the "good" version.


I managed to see a decent copy later, with English subtitles, and the movie is amazing. I noticed one thing about Tarantino's movies. They are more than 2 hours long, and have very little things happening in them. And yet, what the characters say and do while those few things happen is what makes up the movie. Its needs great skill to still keep us enthralled and he has mastered that art.

Watching movies

Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a movie freak.... and I generally watch movies at home. Mostly because those movies don't play at "a cinema near me".


These days movie watching has gone down. I realised that there a few things better than being cooped up in your house watching a movie. But watching a movie at a cinema is definitely better in the US than watching at home (in the US). The audience is much more involved... they react better... and react audibly. And this is quite enjoyable.

I had seen "Waitress" in the flight from India to US, because the reviews suggested that it was a nice funny movie. And either, I didn't get all the movie's funny parts or it wasn't a sit-alone-and-watch kind of a movie. But when I saw it at the Gator nights in our college, it seemed a hell lot funnier. The audience reactions - the oohs, the yucks, the aahs and the whistles - made the movie, finally, funny to me.

Back in India, i think most of the people didn't understand all of the dialogues (me included) or understood it a tad too late. English is not my first language, you know! And all of us seemed to be a bit too serious about the movie watching experience, when it came to English movies.

Just waiting for Wednesday, when they are screening Eastern Promises at the Reitz cinema... I love it.. its free.. and they show non-standard movies. :D