Namak Haraam

People often forget Rajesh Khanna's less commercial but greater act in Namak Haraam. Anand is a masterpiece no doubt. But Namak Haraam is also equally lovable like Other of Kaka's Movies. Amitabh's role was highly overshadowed in both the movies and when I was growing up, whenever I watched this movie, I thought why Amitabh's role is not so big here. But recently when I watched, I understood, that by overshadowing also Kaka did a greater good for Big B. The movie is not only a cinematic art, a poetic reference to many further movies but also a time stopping plot with songs and dialogues so good, which makes ur heart cry for everything which Somu (Kaka's character sees.)

I have no problems in accepting that when I watched this movie as a child, I was completely unaware of Rajesh Khanna's stature in Indian film Industry. Yet, I loved watching every scene where Amitabh is there, But recently I was watching the movie and I really understood, that the movie is not about two actors or two characters, it is about the good and bad and how we separate good from bad. How a Wolf, when it starts living in a group of lambs, starts feeling their helplessness. It clearly shows the depth of friendship, the guilt and a father-son relationship.


If you have loved Anand, you should surely watch Namak haraam and pay a classic tribute to our own Rajesh Khanna. 


The following song from this movie is a tribute to him from this blog:



Main Shaayar Badnaam
Ho Main Chalaa Main Chalaa
Mehfil Se Naaqaam
Ho Main Chala Main Chala
Main Shaayar Badnaam


Mere Ghar Se Tumko
Kuchh Saamaan Milega
Deewaane Shaayar Kaa
Ek Divaan Milega
Aur Ek Cheez Milegi
Tuta Khaali Jaam
Ho Main Chala Main Chala
Main Shaayar Badnaam


Sholon Pe Chalna Tha
Kaanto Pe Sona Tha
Aur Abhi Ji Bharke
Kismat Pe Rona Tha
Jaane Aise Kitne
Baki Chhodke Kaam
Ho Main Chala Mai.N Chala
Main Shaayar Badnaam


Rasta Rok Rahi Hai
Thodi Jaan Hai Baaki
Jaane Tute Dil Mein
Kya Armaan Hai Baaki
Jaane Bhi De Ae Dil
Sabko Mera Salaam
Ho Main Chala Main Chala
Main Shaayar Badnaam

Long Live Kaka! 

The Machinist

Just finished watching The Machinist, which is a very disturbing movie. I am amazed by such dark movies and attracted towards the filming of these. The realism of the hallucinations is so great and effective that you will find it hard to believe when it reveals the actuality on screen.

The director is successful in creating a zone for the viewer where he sees the protagonist as a sufferer. And viewer starts thinking if the protagonist sleeps  he will be alright. But yet we forget that there can be a cause of insomnia. Insomnia as a disease is very under-rated, which is shown when the prostitute says nobody dies of Insomnia. But Insomnia makes you do many things which may lead you to death. And this movie tells us that there is possibility. Now, cause for insomnia can be many. Any grief, emotional disorder, food, work problems, stress and guilt.

An insomniac mind starts creating its own reality and lives there. The person believes what the tired mind shows to him. And everything which is attached to you in some way becomes part of it. Even a cigarette lighter becomes an important part of the story.

Christian Bale has done amazing job and he actually shed 28 Kgs of weight, which is for a guy like me is next to impossible. He portrays Trevor's character in a horrific reality. You will hate that character for being so sick. And he will not leave any beautiful memory about himself. The story is well narrated in a thrilling way. And Camera is an artist of the movie. The way everything has been filmed in this movie is just terrific. The colors chosen are extremely suitable for the movie. The way Bale has been shown is like a ghost, which suits the theme, and the story and his character gets enhanced with the camera work on his thin body.

I wouldn't recommend the movie for a guy looking for entertainment. But this is a must watch for a movie addict who loves the art of cinematography of darkest of characters and darkest of stories.  By all probability by the end of the movie, you will lose sleep and you will rather be writing a blog like me.

Personal Advice: Do keep something light to watch after you finish the movie. :)

Do watch if you can! :)

Jacob's Ladder

I am starting to write with a lesser known movie in my friend circle. The movie is Jacob's Ladder.
All the information you can get on Google and Wikipedia about this, more ratings you can get on IMDB as well. But this blog is not about information, it is about Dissection. so here it goes:

Movie starts with a scene where a US battalion is anticipating an attack in Vietnam.  The soldiers are in very good mood, teasing each other and suddenly attack opens on them, as soon as viewer realizes, the soldiers are falling with some sudden trauma. They are not able to focus and enemy takes control on them. Many soldier get killed and injured. The Protagonist, Jacob Singer, also realizes and tries to fight with the attackers.

But the scene gets cut and he wakes up in a Subway train. The train is empty and he is not able to understand how long he has been travelling. He might have skipped the station. He asks a strange looking woman who doesn't respond or rather gives a creepy look to him, to this, he stops bothering her and while getting down the train, he sees some different kind of movement in the person lying in the seat next to the door. It sends shivers to both, Jacob and the viewer. Jacob gets down, but we are still looking at the empty train, and as it goes we see the strange woman again. It is the thinking of the director which works here, and he makes the viewer to stick to the train, as the viewer is most interested in the happenings in that horrific train which Jacob has just left. The strange woman also does enough to make the viewer unstabler without making any expression and without making any statement. The artist of the scene is the train and the woman. Jacob is just the medium to let viewer feel the fear. It just makes a horrific combo with the loneliness and the dark patches when train passes the tunnels.

So, It sets a theme and makes the viewer anticipating something freakish to happen. Tim Robbins plays his character with utmost care and he gets crazier with every scene. So does the viewer. The scene where he sees his son's photograph and Jessie says "the one who died". It marks the scent of the movie which is not the army backdrop nor the horrific life Jacob is living, in a dilemma whether he is hallucinating or everything is real but the good and bad memories of Jacob's life. As in a scene director explains with the view of Meister Eckhart, who claims he has seen the Hell too. Meister Eckhart said: "The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you," he said. "They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and... you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth." 

The movie marks many such instances from people's life, there is something dark in every person. Although the movie revolves around Jacob's hallucinations, which he thinks is due to something done by US Army and trying to pursue the truth behind his delusions. In the process he meets his  mates from battalion and  comes to know that they also suffer from same trauma. In between we again see many scenes from the Vietnam war, how Jacob gets stabbed, his rescue operation, and the scenes from past where he is with his died son Gabe and the present hallucinations and his growing madness towards the problem.

As the movie progresses, the viewer starts feeling the pain Jacob goes through, it becomes more gruesome when he visits Hell and the Doctors there tell him that he is dead, then suddenly he gets relieved by his chiropractor, when he gives him message. He forgets the pain which he was going through all this time. The meeting with chemist makes the viewer and Jacob realize how it all happened, the cause behind the hallucination and what actually transpired that day in the battlefield. 

Its hard for the viewer to understand which is real. Where Jacob is really visiting hell? or is he seeing some ghosts? or is he Hallucinating? or US Army did experiment with him? or is his son alive? These are the answers Jacob is also trying to find out. But until the last scene of movie director keeps the secret alive, which makes the movie worth watching and that's why I have hid the best part of the movie here. It would have been really great if I had dissected the final part, the heart of the movie as well here, but I really don't want to tear the secret apart from the movie, because it is the true nectar here. 

Watch it for the direction, screen-play, classic story and great acting by Tim Robbins. If you don't like it, which is more obvious, because somehow people understand Matrix but not these kind of movies, which puzzles me, but also tells me that people only want to watch meaningless action which doesn't really let them read between the lines. If you can't read between the lines, if you can't see something going on in the story which is not said explicitly, this movie is not for you.

If you like a movie which lets you imagine your own life and lets you connect with the character and the screenplay, this is the movie to cherish.

Ciao!

PROHEMIUM

There will be movies which you thought why you watched at all. There will be movies which you would have "thought" are Unwatchables But they are not. They require a little thinking. The director has left the thinking job to you. The Movie may be so sick that you wont dare to touch it again. This amuses me, to the extent that I put myself to the risk of great torture sometimes and watch The Unwatchables!

I am a huge movie thinker. Yes you read it correct, I am a movie thinker, when I watch movie, I don't watch just for entertainment or not just to know something or not just to spend time with friends. I watch it with all the thinking involved. Call me crazy, maniac, but that's what I am. I like to dissect a movie into a simple vision. Some people don't understand the story sometimes, may be it is difficult for them to understand the perception of the director or cinematographer, and that's why some of the biggest directors went misunderstood and their movies flopped. But I don't agree to the theory "If I don't understand something I should simply disagree with it", we can just admire it, if not discuss it or if not  rejoice it at least not dispose it in garbage.

Yes, I agree, there will be many meaningless things in life, and there will be many things which should be left misunderstood. But that's where my madness start, when i watch a movie, i watch it for full cause, full perspective, with whole heart, and with my brain. There are glitches in movies, which I may tend to ignore to get the larger context.

I always wanted to write my kind of "reviews" of the movies, as that is one area of interest I have developed in recent years. Many people who will read this will say my views as absurd. Or they will say "Why on earth you are dissecting this movie?" But that's the way it is. I have to write and I will write. You can always switch the channel!

I have seen people who have watched Matrix and Lord of the rings many times and they claim that they have fully understood them and they are like the greatest movies ever made. But the same people can't understand  "Number 23", "The eternal Sunshine of spotless mind", "Truman show", "The green mile", "Forrest Gump", "Dhobi Ghat", "The Dark Knight", "Memento", "Schindler's List" and many more classics. This blog is dedicated to such innocent people who cannot understand the language of the Camera.

So.. it begins..!