Moving to Wordpress

I am moving to wordpress in a few days.

So if you see some strange things happening on the website, dont be alarmed….its just the baggage being unpacked :)

posted by Protik Basu @ 11:06 PM 0 Comments

Kahaani directed by Sujay Ghosh

You get an immense shock of a revelation. A twist that leaves you grappling with the realization that you have been taken on a merry go round for the 99% of the movie. All the beliefs and convictions that you had built up during watching the movie is shattered completely. You start seeing the whole story from a radically different perspective and you get that A-ha moment when you pinpoint the places that you were taken for a ride. And you realize that there were no flaws and that indeed there were two stories running in parallel - one which you were being told and one that was actually happening

The best of the suspense thriller aims to do exactly this. Ask Hitchcock. And as any avid movie watcher knows, such movies are truly hard to find. Among Hindi movies, one that springs to mind is "Kaun", featuring Urmila Matondkar and to some extent "Khamosh" starring Naseerudin Shah.

What do you get when you start off with a terrorist attack, then get a pregnant woman searching for a missing husband in the crumbling magical city of Kolkata, a mole in the Intelligence beareau and a race against time to uncover a mystery that seems to become unsolvable by the minute? You get "Kahaani" or a "Story". And unless you see the end, you would not know what a perfect yarn has been scripted

After seeing "Kahaani" one can say with belief that this one will go down as one of the best well made movie of this genre. Not only is the story impeccable, not only is the premise well thought through but what makes the "Kahaani" complete is the environment. The sounds, sights, the camera work, the music, the hotel room, the chase through the alley way, the puja preparation, the poignant flashbacks. Everything makes this a complete delightful package

And a big part of the environment is the city in which everything takes place - Kolkata.

Kolkata is a magical place for a lot of reasons. But the Kolkata brought alive in "Kahaani" is truly a delight. By turns eerie, by turns old world charm, always colorful both in characters and happenings, Kolkata in "Kahaani" is one helluva interesting place. And for once the Kolkata depicted is not the cliché Kolkata depicted in movies like "City of Joy" or the invisible one in "Yuva". The sights and sounds and the people are much more authentic than anything else you have seen.

The characters in "Kahaani" gives it the special edge that a movie. Bob, the harmless looking insurance agent who is actually a hitman is probably one of the creepiest character to be shown on screen; Rana, a newbie Kolkata sub-inspector, who starts off getting involved out of a sense of gallantry and then gets enmeshed in something much more sinister; Khan - the Intelligence guy who is a ruthless pragmatist.

And Vidya or as the Bengalis keep insisting - Bidya. Vidya Balan is truly an actor to watch out for. The sheer versatility she is capable of not only shows in the difference between her "Dirty Picture" and "Kahaani" but also within "Kahaani". By parts vulnerable, by parts pragmatic, by parts manipulative, by parts teasing, "Kahaani" is a powerful vindication of Vidya Balan's ability to carry a movie completely on her shoulders. Never did you feel the need for a hero, so completely she dominates the story. It helps of course that she had a powerful story and a talented cast to back her up. But nonetheless, take Vidya Balan out of the movie, there would be a glaring vacuum.

Vidya as the pregnant woman searching for a husband who for all purposes seems to have abandoned her is one of the most memorable character in recent Hindi movie history. She manages to exact your sympathy and your awe at the same time as she struggles against an  advanced pregnancy to follow up every lead on her missing husband. And as she slowly gets enmeshed in a much bigger plot, as her life comes under danger, you get involved completely in trying to solve the mystery for her, working out every possible angle in your head

Every possible angle except the one that is right!!!

The ending makes this perfect movie complete. The five minutes of shock you experience as you digest what has been revealed is worth every paisa you have spent in getting that movie theatre seat or in buying the DVD...

This is a movie that can be enjoyed only in its seeing. Nothing else comes close. Just go and see it!!

Labels: Hindi, kolkata, mystery, terrorism, thriller

posted by Protik Basu @ 12:37 AM 3 Comments

We would still be reading this 200 years later…Age of Reason by Thomas Paine…

Just finished reading Thomas Paine's "Age of Reason"

What can I say?

That a book written more than 200 years ago could find so much resonance today is something that is needs to be read to be believed

Thomas Paine was a man who was so far ahead of his time that he would be called far ahead of his time today!!

The moral courage and the personal integrity that exemplified his entire life marks his written work. Age of Reason was a book that caused such an explosion in its time that it did two things - immortalized him for posterity and condemned him during his lifetime. 

Yet at the end of his life, when he was dying a painful death, deserted by friends and shunned by people who had hailed him a hero once, he stuck to what he had believed in and displayed the same sense of sarcastic humour that he showed in his work. A life lived as written

Age of Reason is an all out attack on the system of organized religion - more specifically Christianity, this being the religion that Paine encountered in England, France and America, the places where he lived and fought all his life. Paine was a brilliant pamphleteer and so was used to laying out his ideas concisely and clearly without using any dense logic or arguments. He uses the same technique in his writings.

Reading this, even 200 years later, feels like a stirring call to arms. And the fact that a large part of this book was written and completed at a time when Thomas Paine was under the belief that he could be executed anytime makes you appreciate the book more...

There are two important aspects of the book that stands out - the material of the book and the way it is written

The material of the book is based on a simple premise - Organized religion is a sham at best and dangerous at worst. This is because the purpose of organized religion is to make us act contrary to our innermost feelings, filling our head with impossible and fantastic things that has no basis in reality. The only true religion is that of Deism and the true bible is Nature.

Because, as Paine explains so beautifully, God has anyway given us an abundance of miracles in everything around us, in existence itself. Why do we need foolish miracles or religion? This was the first time that material like this was published in a direct and plainly written attack, even though the thoughts on which Paine based his work had been around for some time - in the work of David Hume and Spinoza for example.

The book is divided into two parts - the first is a general discussion on religion and on Paine's personal beliefs. This is where he puts forward his most compelling and beautiful arguments for the religion of the mind and the heart. He explains what he feels and why he feels so. The second part deals directly with Christianity. Deals is a wrong word actually. Rips apart is perhaps more appropriate. Paine takes some of the implied and maybe even cherished beliefs of Christians and literally rips them to shred...

Which brings me to the fascinating way the book is written. He is attacking organized religion in open field, which at that time was immensely powerful and controlled almost every aspect of life. Yet, he never uses any circular arguments, does not hide behind any one else and or any other theory. His attacks are straight to the point and argued so logically and beautifully that the modern reader will still find the reasoning fascinating, no matter how many Richard Dawkins he may have read.

When he is attacking Christianity, he maintains his good quality acerbic humour to mock the beliefs and at the same time gives irrefutable proof of why he considers the beliefs to be wrong. He picks up different aspects of Christianity - the bible and its different books, the characters of Moses, Joshua, Jesus and the significant events on which Christianity is based - most importantly the resurrection of Jesus. This was written to make perfect sense to a complete layman on the street. And this it does brilliantly!!!

The style has a wonderful sense of a person who is simply trying to wake up the reader to things which seem painfully apparent once explained...

This is a book that I hope I will be revisiting many a times. The book that has inspired people from Mark Twain to Christopher Hitchens is not something that can be digested in one reading...

This a book that cannot be reviewed enough, Instead I will leave the reader of this post with some of the sentences in the book that are so powerful and beautiful that they need to be read again and again...

Quotes from “Age of Reason”...Read below...

Labels: america, banned, Books, controvery, deism, England, historical, history, religion

posted by Protik Basu @ 3:59 PM 0 Comments

(Movie) This revolution will not be televised directed by Kim Bartley and Donnacha Ó Briain

 

In an age of 24 hours television, when we have the whole world beamed to us by an almost inexhaustible array of channels, "This revolution will not be televised" poses some very uncomfortable questions about what we are fed everyday from the newsrooms of the world

A paranoid's favourite statement is - "We are being lied to". This being an affront to our superior intelligence, we choose to deny, even though we realize the kernel of truth in it. Or as Kurt Cobain put it succinctly - "Just Because You're Paranoid, Don't Mean They're Not After You"

When you see something like "This Revolution will not be televised", you realize that the paranoid is probably much saner than we thought. And you wonder what else is here that you think you knew, but probably don't know s**t

The setting of the documentary is the 2002 coup attempt in Venezuela in which western influenced and financed groups and army elements tried to oust Hugo Chavez, the charismatic rebel president who had come to power on the back of a popular upsurge. Chavez was intended to become another bloody statistic in the long history of popular presidents in Latin America removed by force, the United States always being the alleged culprit. Look at what happened to Allende

Filmed by Irish filmmakers Kim Bartley and Donnacha O Briain, what was originally intended as a biographical sketch of the Hugo Chavez, turned into a fascinating look into the coup events as situations changed rapidly and drastically around them.

Labels: alternate history, america, conspiracy, documentary, media, movies, revolution, venezuela

posted by Protik Basu @ 9:34 AM 0 Comments

(Movie) The Gold Rush directed by Charlie Chaplin

So, this was the movie that Chaplin wanted to be remembered for the most

Your own jury can be out on that one but one thing is for sure, along with his other great classics like “The Kid” or “City Lights”, “Gold Rush” would rank as one of the all time classics – a feast that can be enjoyed not matter what your age or what your mood for that matter.

Its a measure of Chaplin’s genius that he could sustain his audience through a full length silent feature movie, a length which many modern movies struggle to fill with any meaning, with all the tech wizardy in hand.

Much like “The Kid”, which came earlier, Chaplin is able to combine comedy, pathos, a keen sense of human nature and a social  non-judgmental commentary and a sense of irreverent frivolity. Many people today mistaken Chaplin with slapstick or physical comedy, which is a tragedy of ignorance. Almost none of his works are of the kind that would make you laugh without making you think, however subtly. And that is where the power of something like “Gold Rush” comes into focus.

posted by Protik Basu @ 3:48 PM 2 Comments

(Movie) Inshallah Kashmir directed by Ashvin Kumar

Banned in India by the ever faithful Big Brother of a censor board, the director took the unprecedented step of releasing this online (apparently there is no law against releasing something online…yet). Ashvin actually opened it up for download for one day – on 26th January, the Republic Day. That’s quite a symbolic gesture!!

And once you see this you know why…

Which is why you need to see it

It has been the practice of all governments to try and dictate what we must see and hear and there us always an effort by all governments to make the public buy into their version of current and historical events.

And there has been an increasing virulence of intolerance by self-appointed patriots whose sense of injustice bleed too easily. Look at what happened to Symbiosis university’s Kashmir seminar “Voices of Kashmir”, which was cancelled due to the ‘fatwa’ by the right wing fringe.

And Kashmir is one topic which will always invoke strong reactions. And this is one topic which will always see an effort to give the ‘official’ version of the story

Labels: banned, controvery, documentary, india, kashmir

posted by Protik Basu @ 7:35 PM 2 Comments

(Movie) Nine Lives directed by Rodrigo Garcia

While seeing this and while trying to put a word to the beauty of what was unfolding, I was reminded of the way some photographs seem to capture some things perfectly and while you watch, you seem to find hidden layers of meaning in the same photo – in the trees, in the eyes, in the mouth and so on.

If I have to describe this movie, this is how it seems – a series of beautifully and thoughtfully shot photographs with meanings in every frame. It is a movie made with lots of care, for its characters, for the situation and for the ‘baggage’ (as the Glenn Close says) that we all carry around

Directed by Rodrigo Garcia, son of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, ‘Nine Lives’ is a series of nine snapshots revolving around nine women and the situation they deal with. There is no beginning and there is no end. Perhaps it can best be described as windows into the lives of the characters, a small chance to see a small part of their lives.

posted by Protik Basu @ 9:47 AM 0 Comments