BAYFIELD!!! Picture perfect!!!
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Movie Review of Rana's Wedding
Venue: Jerusalem, Tuesday 27 November, four pm, Al-Dahia roadblock.
"The name of the father of the bride is..." the heavy set man in a beige suit, and short graying moustaches utters aloud, for everyone to hear, about what he is going to enter in his huge, heavy register, "Mr Said Nasser Al Chatib"
"The name of the groom is ... ," he contiues, unmindful of the discomfort, a result of being sandwiched between the groom, and the bride's father, in the rear seats of a rusty, old van, on a busy, dusty roadblock, "Mr Khalil Amer Al-Mahfouz".
"Any witnesses present?" he looks out, to see a group of friends and relatives echoing "Yes."
"Name?” he calls out. "Ramzy Hussein Atalla," the clean shaven youngman in a casual, faded beige sweater, beside the groom, speaks out.
"What is the dowry?" the man looks up from his register to the groom, in a 'matter-of-fact' tone. He is the registrar, getting Khalil and Rana married. After a puzzled shrug, the groom in dark suit utters "One dinar."
"And the alimony?" the registrar turns towards the father of the bride, in an expensive, black, suit. "Ten thousand dinar," the father of the bride mentions in a sarcastic tone. He had never agreed to this marriage, and wants to get done with it, as soon as possible, as he has a plane to catch, to Egypt.
"Are there other conditions?" the registrar asks the father of the bride. He gets a "No" thrown at him.
Then the registrar looks at the lovely bride in white dress, sitting on the front seat of the van, turned towards the registrar, groom, and her father. "My dear, do you agree to the terms?" the registrar asks her. "Sure," she mentions, with a pleasing smile.
"Do you have any other conditions?" he asks her, just for the record. "No."
"In the name of the lord, please put your hand in the hand of the father. And repeat after me," the registrar says to the bearded groom. The groom reaches across to the hand of the father of the bride, in a hand-shake.
"I marry you my daughter, Rana, according to the law of Islam, with the dowry of one dinar, and alimony of ten thousand dinar," the registrar says to the father to repeat this. The father repeats it.
Then he turns to the groom, “Answer him and say, I accept this marriage, according to the law of Islam, and agree to all the conditions." The groom repeats the same.
"And hereby I declare this marriage valid," announces the registrar inside the van, to receive the exhilarated hoots of the large crowd surrounding the van, on the dry, muddy road, at the road block.
Interesting. Very interesting. That is something I could say about this movie, Rana's Wedding, by the Palestines, with English subtitles for the world. This is the story of Rana, a determined, lean Palestinian girl, under 21 years of age, who wants to stay in Jerusalem, despite the war. But, she is being forced by her father to come to Egypt with him, for further studies.
She can stay back, if she marries.
She is given a list of suitable grooms, by her father, and she is asked to choose one and marry before Tuesday, 4pm.
Then begins her research about the grooms, running amidst the huge, ancient stone structures of Jerusalem, the cobbled pathways, the narrow and damp corridors. Also, she has to move against a backdrop of heavily armed soldiers, and casually dressed freedom fighters (as portrayed in the movie), with guns and bombs.
At some point, she decides that the list is not worth pursuing, and catches up with her lover, Khalil. She asks him to marry her.
He agrees.
The search for the registrar begins with Rana, Khalil and Khalil's friend, driving along numerous dusty roads, and pathways to find the registrar, and beat the queue at the government office, to get the papers for marriage.
After a lot of road blocks, and running around later, Rana manages to invite some of their relatives to her marriage, which is to be scheduled and finished before 4pm, that evening. Her father would take her away, if she is not wed by 4pm that evening.
As the mild celebrations are on for the wedding, there is some small problem.
The registrar is stopped at a road block, and it might take a long while for him to be let free!!!
But, as the registrar cannot come to the wedding, can the wedding to him???
The simple story of one day, is narrated with a vigor which matches the intensity of Rana's search. The camera work is deft. The camera moves along with Rana, for all the whole of the movie. It runs when Rana runs. It scans the landscape in abrupt movements, when Rana is searching. It even moves along with her in the car.
Something that impressed me the most, is the casual way in which the general Palestinian population responds to the war. Even if there is fighting going on between armed soldiers, and small children trained to throw stones at the soldiers (with some bullets catching the children at legs, and hands), the general population move around hurriedly, minding their own businesses. Rana ducks, while she is passing such a mini-battleground, and reaches to the other side, where she boards a public bus. This shows the life of the people, who have taken the war to be a routine, something that is a part of their public life.
The movie, demystifies the Palestinian war to an extent, and is successful in narrating a love story between all the fighting.
An impressive show.
"The name of the father of the bride is..." the heavy set man in a beige suit, and short graying moustaches utters aloud, for everyone to hear, about what he is going to enter in his huge, heavy register, "Mr Said Nasser Al Chatib"
"The name of the groom is ... ," he contiues, unmindful of the discomfort, a result of being sandwiched between the groom, and the bride's father, in the rear seats of a rusty, old van, on a busy, dusty roadblock, "Mr Khalil Amer Al-Mahfouz".
"Any witnesses present?" he looks out, to see a group of friends and relatives echoing "Yes."
"Name?” he calls out. "Ramzy Hussein Atalla," the clean shaven youngman in a casual, faded beige sweater, beside the groom, speaks out.
"What is the dowry?" the man looks up from his register to the groom, in a 'matter-of-fact' tone. He is the registrar, getting Khalil and Rana married. After a puzzled shrug, the groom in dark suit utters "One dinar."
"And the alimony?" the registrar turns towards the father of the bride, in an expensive, black, suit. "Ten thousand dinar," the father of the bride mentions in a sarcastic tone. He had never agreed to this marriage, and wants to get done with it, as soon as possible, as he has a plane to catch, to Egypt.
"Are there other conditions?" the registrar asks the father of the bride. He gets a "No" thrown at him.
Then the registrar looks at the lovely bride in white dress, sitting on the front seat of the van, turned towards the registrar, groom, and her father. "My dear, do you agree to the terms?" the registrar asks her. "Sure," she mentions, with a pleasing smile.
"Do you have any other conditions?" he asks her, just for the record. "No."
"In the name of the lord, please put your hand in the hand of the father. And repeat after me," the registrar says to the bearded groom. The groom reaches across to the hand of the father of the bride, in a hand-shake.
"I marry you my daughter, Rana, according to the law of Islam, with the dowry of one dinar, and alimony of ten thousand dinar," the registrar says to the father to repeat this. The father repeats it.
Then he turns to the groom, “Answer him and say, I accept this marriage, according to the law of Islam, and agree to all the conditions." The groom repeats the same.
"And hereby I declare this marriage valid," announces the registrar inside the van, to receive the exhilarated hoots of the large crowd surrounding the van, on the dry, muddy road, at the road block.
Interesting. Very interesting. That is something I could say about this movie, Rana's Wedding, by the Palestines, with English subtitles for the world. This is the story of Rana, a determined, lean Palestinian girl, under 21 years of age, who wants to stay in Jerusalem, despite the war. But, she is being forced by her father to come to Egypt with him, for further studies.
She can stay back, if she marries.
She is given a list of suitable grooms, by her father, and she is asked to choose one and marry before Tuesday, 4pm.
Then begins her research about the grooms, running amidst the huge, ancient stone structures of Jerusalem, the cobbled pathways, the narrow and damp corridors. Also, she has to move against a backdrop of heavily armed soldiers, and casually dressed freedom fighters (as portrayed in the movie), with guns and bombs.
At some point, she decides that the list is not worth pursuing, and catches up with her lover, Khalil. She asks him to marry her.
He agrees.
The search for the registrar begins with Rana, Khalil and Khalil's friend, driving along numerous dusty roads, and pathways to find the registrar, and beat the queue at the government office, to get the papers for marriage.
After a lot of road blocks, and running around later, Rana manages to invite some of their relatives to her marriage, which is to be scheduled and finished before 4pm, that evening. Her father would take her away, if she is not wed by 4pm that evening.
As the mild celebrations are on for the wedding, there is some small problem.
The registrar is stopped at a road block, and it might take a long while for him to be let free!!!
But, as the registrar cannot come to the wedding, can the wedding to him???
The simple story of one day, is narrated with a vigor which matches the intensity of Rana's search. The camera work is deft. The camera moves along with Rana, for all the whole of the movie. It runs when Rana runs. It scans the landscape in abrupt movements, when Rana is searching. It even moves along with her in the car.
Something that impressed me the most, is the casual way in which the general Palestinian population responds to the war. Even if there is fighting going on between armed soldiers, and small children trained to throw stones at the soldiers (with some bullets catching the children at legs, and hands), the general population move around hurriedly, minding their own businesses. Rana ducks, while she is passing such a mini-battleground, and reaches to the other side, where she boards a public bus. This shows the life of the people, who have taken the war to be a routine, something that is a part of their public life.
The movie, demystifies the Palestinian war to an extent, and is successful in narrating a love story between all the fighting.
An impressive show.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Panera Bread
The fortress did not have any guards, but certainly was well guarded by its thick walls on all sides. Completely. 360 degree. Thatz Panera Bread (a local chain of restaurants) sour dough for you (featured in the picture below). The lump of bread has an impermeable crust, which appears like a well cooked pork, and is a feast.... for the eyes. The plastic spoons which accompany the meal are no match against the defence of the crust. The plastic spoons gave away, and had their spinal cords broken when we used them as soldiers against the fortress of the bread.
Subbu, Sarvesh, Reggie, and Shilpa had accompanied me on the friday meal to give a send off party to Kanna, the IIM grad, working for Infy, moving to Seattle in the weekend. The most interesting part was.... Kanna was not there in the party. ;-)
He had to take care of all the women.
Ahem!!! Doesn't that make the story juicy??? ;-)
But, the juice is more sour ;-)
The women who were cruel BAs of his office, who were not letting him free even in the last few hours that he was at office, before eloping to Seattle.......... with two boys, Gowda and Sarvesh....heh heh.... what did you think???
Coming back to the bread fortress, we mused about how to attack it, and cut it open. Just then, Subbu came up with this wonderful idea to remove its lid (the thick crusted bread, had a thick crust lid???!!! ) and pour all the soup (veggie soup, which resembled 'Tomato Sambar', but was charged more than twenty five times than in India) into the dead bread.
We did that, and managed to soften the dehydrated lump.
Few vain attempts, and a lot of jokes later, we decided to call it quits, and beat the retreat in our war against the (almost metallic tough) sour dough.
Out came Subbu's 'housemade Bisibele baath', from his lunch box, which he had prepared for later use. We rampaged on it like the hungry lads of the Mumbai slums. ;-)
The unknown female, who was to be impressed by Subbu's culinary skills had to excuse him that day, I guess ;-)
The picture below stars tragically puzzled Sarvesh, trying to use his engineering skills to find the point of weakness of the material. He definitely would have scored a great deal in his Engineering 'Strength of Materials', but miserably failed to make his way through the monstrous mould.
Subbu, Sarvesh, Reggie, and Shilpa had accompanied me on the friday meal to give a send off party to Kanna, the IIM grad, working for Infy, moving to Seattle in the weekend. The most interesting part was.... Kanna was not there in the party. ;-)
He had to take care of all the women.
Ahem!!! Doesn't that make the story juicy??? ;-)
But, the juice is more sour ;-)
The women who were cruel BAs of his office, who were not letting him free even in the last few hours that he was at office, before eloping to Seattle.......... with two boys, Gowda and Sarvesh....heh heh.... what did you think???
Coming back to the bread fortress, we mused about how to attack it, and cut it open. Just then, Subbu came up with this wonderful idea to remove its lid (the thick crusted bread, had a thick crust lid???!!! ) and pour all the soup (veggie soup, which resembled 'Tomato Sambar', but was charged more than twenty five times than in India) into the dead bread.
We did that, and managed to soften the dehydrated lump.
Few vain attempts, and a lot of jokes later, we decided to call it quits, and beat the retreat in our war against the (almost metallic tough) sour dough.
Out came Subbu's 'housemade Bisibele baath', from his lunch box, which he had prepared for later use. We rampaged on it like the hungry lads of the Mumbai slums. ;-)
The unknown female, who was to be impressed by Subbu's culinary skills had to excuse him that day, I guess ;-)
The picture below stars tragically puzzled Sarvesh, trying to use his engineering skills to find the point of weakness of the material. He definitely would have scored a great deal in his Engineering 'Strength of Materials', but miserably failed to make his way through the monstrous mould.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Monday, October 10, 2005
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Salaam Bombay (1988) - my view
You can love it. You can hate it. But you certainly cannot ignore it.
The exciting story of the young boy 'Chaipau' (tea boy), eking out a living in the sleazy streets of Mumbai, where the drains are free to crawl onto the streets, the half naked street children play around their simple games, the hungry leers of the men are met by skin show of the prostitutes. Contrastingly, the same dirty streets house the huge statues of 'Ganapathi Bappa' during the festival, which is celebrated with fervor more intense than any national festival, in Mumbai.
Thatz Mumbai. And this is the story of Mumbai, through the eyes of a street urchin.
The story runs thus....
Krishna is a boy on the street, working as a tea delivery boy. He sleeps on the streets, and eats whatever he gets. But is generous enough to share his small earnings with some of his other street friends, which includes a drug peddler Chillum (Raghuvir Yadav). He has a past. Like the thousands of children on the streets. They were not born that way, isn't it?
But what makes him special, is his dream. Now, whatz special in dreaming? Especially in MUMBAI, the city of dreams???
He has a dream, which he pursues to accomplish. He works, and saves his money to collect Rs 500, which would be enough to let him into his house in his village.
In a tiff, he would have burnt his brother's motor bike. His mother would have left him at a local circus to earn that money before he can come back. Due to the turn of events, he loses the link with the circus, making his way to Mumbai. He starts working as a tea boy for a small tea stall. As the story begins to make its way from his sand strewn road side sleeping place, to the infamously busy Bombay railway stations, and also through the creaking doors of the prostitutes' houses, it carries with it a narrative about the triangular love story between a ten year old girl, Chaipau (alias Krishna) and a sixteen year old beautiful girl, destined to be a prostitute.
Then there are the drugs, the booze, and a burglary. Chaipau is taken away by the police on a night, from a rain washed street. But interestingly, it is not for that burglary.
Does that kindle your curiosity?? Wait. There's more.
A jail break and a murder.
Amidst all these is the subtle humor of the Dickensian characters, which keeps you amazed all the way.
What I liked about the movie....
Bombay had always fascinated me. The numerous movies about the emotional coldness of the Mumbai contrasting against the warmth of the close Marathi knit community, the ruthless gangsters contrasting against the best police force in the country, the highest number of rich men contrasting against highest number of slum dwellers, had me interested in this strange phenomenon called Bombay.
I was always interested in people. The responses of the varied minds to the more varied stimuli, their beliefs, and their life.
But Bombay? Hey, hold on. I was never sure if I was ready to handle din and noise. Am not sure if I can handle it now, too.
Curtsey, a Bangalorean friend of mine who quit his software job and came back, just because he could not handle the crowd of the local train ;-).
Imagine my surprise to find Salaam Bombay video, in the Public Library of Minneapolis!!!
The movie does not glamorize anything. It rips out the facade painted to it by the bollywood, and throws at you, the unmade up story of the streets. No hero-heroines, occasionally vacationing, singing on the Swiss Alps, where as living in dilapidated houses with flaking walls. No gun trotting gangsters with birds' nest on their chins.
Bombay. Direct!!!
The hype...
Salaam Bombay, after having won awards at the Cannes Festival, had been nominated for the Academy Awards, in 1988.
The audience...
This movie is not for you if you have cooed at romantic comedies. This movie is not for you if you are looking out for a quick 'fill-the-gap' movie. This movie takes you down and dirty, right amidst the real life characters. Watch it if you have it in you, to gulp down the occasional bitterness dished out to you.
Till then,
Salaam Bombay....salaaaam Bombaaay!!!
with warm regards,
Teju
The exciting story of the young boy 'Chaipau' (tea boy), eking out a living in the sleazy streets of Mumbai, where the drains are free to crawl onto the streets, the half naked street children play around their simple games, the hungry leers of the men are met by skin show of the prostitutes. Contrastingly, the same dirty streets house the huge statues of 'Ganapathi Bappa' during the festival, which is celebrated with fervor more intense than any national festival, in Mumbai.
Thatz Mumbai. And this is the story of Mumbai, through the eyes of a street urchin.
The story runs thus....
Krishna is a boy on the street, working as a tea delivery boy. He sleeps on the streets, and eats whatever he gets. But is generous enough to share his small earnings with some of his other street friends, which includes a drug peddler Chillum (Raghuvir Yadav). He has a past. Like the thousands of children on the streets. They were not born that way, isn't it?
But what makes him special, is his dream. Now, whatz special in dreaming? Especially in MUMBAI, the city of dreams???
He has a dream, which he pursues to accomplish. He works, and saves his money to collect Rs 500, which would be enough to let him into his house in his village.
In a tiff, he would have burnt his brother's motor bike. His mother would have left him at a local circus to earn that money before he can come back. Due to the turn of events, he loses the link with the circus, making his way to Mumbai. He starts working as a tea boy for a small tea stall. As the story begins to make its way from his sand strewn road side sleeping place, to the infamously busy Bombay railway stations, and also through the creaking doors of the prostitutes' houses, it carries with it a narrative about the triangular love story between a ten year old girl, Chaipau (alias Krishna) and a sixteen year old beautiful girl, destined to be a prostitute.
Then there are the drugs, the booze, and a burglary. Chaipau is taken away by the police on a night, from a rain washed street. But interestingly, it is not for that burglary.
Does that kindle your curiosity?? Wait. There's more.
A jail break and a murder.
Amidst all these is the subtle humor of the Dickensian characters, which keeps you amazed all the way.
What I liked about the movie....
Bombay had always fascinated me. The numerous movies about the emotional coldness of the Mumbai contrasting against the warmth of the close Marathi knit community, the ruthless gangsters contrasting against the best police force in the country, the highest number of rich men contrasting against highest number of slum dwellers, had me interested in this strange phenomenon called Bombay.
I was always interested in people. The responses of the varied minds to the more varied stimuli, their beliefs, and their life.
But Bombay? Hey, hold on. I was never sure if I was ready to handle din and noise. Am not sure if I can handle it now, too.
Curtsey, a Bangalorean friend of mine who quit his software job and came back, just because he could not handle the crowd of the local train ;-).
Imagine my surprise to find Salaam Bombay video, in the Public Library of Minneapolis!!!
The movie does not glamorize anything. It rips out the facade painted to it by the bollywood, and throws at you, the unmade up story of the streets. No hero-heroines, occasionally vacationing, singing on the Swiss Alps, where as living in dilapidated houses with flaking walls. No gun trotting gangsters with birds' nest on their chins.
Bombay. Direct!!!
The hype...
Salaam Bombay, after having won awards at the Cannes Festival, had been nominated for the Academy Awards, in 1988.
The audience...
This movie is not for you if you have cooed at romantic comedies. This movie is not for you if you are looking out for a quick 'fill-the-gap' movie. This movie takes you down and dirty, right amidst the real life characters. Watch it if you have it in you, to gulp down the occasional bitterness dished out to you.
Till then,
Salaam Bombay....salaaaam Bombaaay!!!
with warm regards,
Teju
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