Movie Review: Bombay Talkies

Not as bright as the stars

The quartet of quickies that constitutes Bombay Talkies serves a dual purpose. It tells us what it is that has made Mumbai cinema work for a hundred years. At the same time, at a deeper and probably unintended level, it also concedes exactly what it is that prevents Bollywood, as we know it today, from achieving greater heights as a mode of artistic expression.

Three of the four short films here are not even about the medium of cinema per se, and just one of these three is only tangentially about the art of storytelling and mythmaking that sustains the dream machine.

They are essentially about the deep bond that the Indian masses have with the movie megastars. What they say is: the medium isn’t the message; the dreams are.

The first story, directed by Karan Johar, homes in on a hip working couple (Rani Mukherji and Randeep Hooda) whose less-than-perfect relationship is rocked violently by the advent of a rebellious gay drifter (Saqib Saleem) who has the hots for the hubby.

What does a story about alternative sexuality have to do with the essence and history of Hindi cinema? Not much, as far as this reviewer can see, except for the tenuous connection that Johar makes with a couple of timeless Lata Mangeshkar numbers from the 1960s, which are sung by a girl on a railway station over-bridge.

The gloss is in place and the technical attributes are of the highest order. Johar also extracts a great performance from Rani Mukherjee, who looks and acts every inch the part of an entertainment supplement editor. But Onir did a much better job of addressing same-sex love in the crowd-funded 'I Am...'.

Bombay Talkies is bookended by Anurag Kashyap with a lively story of a young Allahabad man who is dispatched by his father to Mumbai with a little piece of home-made murabba for his favourite movie actor, Amitabh Bachchan. It is entertaining but thin.

The third segment, directed by Zoya Akhtar, narrates the slight tale of a boy whose father wants him to be a footballer but whose own ambition is to be a dancer like Katrina Kaif.

The question of gender stereotyping is raised all right, just as Johar’s story touches upon the theme of sexual orientation, but the treatment is strictly surface level.
The segment that stands out is the one crafted by Dibakar Banerjee. It is the second, and is the only one that remains etched in the mind after the two-hour tribute to Hindi cinema has run its course.

It is a loose adaptation of a short story by Satyajit Ray about a lower middle class man, a one-time actor grappling with the drudgery of his dead-end life in a big city, who stumbles upon a moment of ‘stardom’ when he is roped in to play a walk-on part in a big film. The chance break gives the man an ‘exciting’ story to tell his daughter.

Banerjee uses sound, light, and the purity of hand and body gestures to great effect and, with an actor as astounding as Nawazuddin Siddiqui breathing life into the vision, this is a knockout show. The rest of Bombay Talkies, including the scene of two men kissing, isn’t quite that bracing!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
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Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

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What after mandela?

South Africa risks sliding back into recidivist politics

"For as long as he lives, South Africans breathe a little easier and believe in their country a little more. When the day after Mandela dawns, that belief will be shaken, not dramatically or immediately, but slowly and perhaps imperceptibly. South Africa will, quite simply, be a different country." That was British Prime Minister David Cameron’s message in the Telegraph, echoing the fears of world leaders about the possible unraveling of South Africa's racial harmony once the charismatic and healing presence of its tallest leader is no more. There are speculations, not only in the South African media but even elsewhere, that in the absence of Nelson Mandela’s guiding principles, the country could once again descend into apartheid politics.

The apprehension is that Blacks would vent their anger and frustration against the Whites. There is a simmering discontent  against the white community lording over 80 per cent of the country’s wealth. Till now, Mandela's spiritual and moral authority had had a calming influence. But once that authority is gone, repressed emotions could come to a head.  It is debatable whether the current political leadership can be counted on to keep fissiparous forces from taking over.  Even Ernst Roets, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of AfriForum, has expressed his anxiety on the issue. "We do get calls from people saying they're scared about the day Mandela dies and what they should do. There are fringe organizations that say flee the country."

The fear, though speculative, is not altogether chimerical. There are hate messages doing the rounds of social media. "You guys just wait until the day Mandela dies and then we'll come for you," reads one such threat. A cursory trawl of the Web throws up many such minatory hints. South African whites are reading the tea leaves and taking necessary precautions. There are reports that Whites are building bunkers and stocking food to meet any eventuality. They fear that the restraint that has so far been exercised by black rabble rousers will cease to exist after Mandela.

Such apprehensions may still prove to be unfounded.  After all, many tribal clans and communities in South Africa have had their outlook and weltanschauung shaped by Mandela's sterling legacy. To expect them to disown those principles in a jiffy would be heretical to Mandela's ideals and reputation.  Also, the country now has a vibrant democracy in place, with strong institutions enshrined. In fact, the post Mandela era could pave the way for some ground-breaking political shift in the African National Congress Party, which has been the political bulwark for South Africa's blacks but has struggled to grow out of Mandela's overpowering influence. While new leaders with a modern outlook and vision could come into their own in the ANC, Mandela's exit could also spawn other political formations for the country's blacks.  Global experience shows that multiparty democracy is always a better option.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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Small films, big gains

Mumbai directors who followed their hearts and fought a dour, unflinching battle to protect their cinematic vision from market-imposed dilution have come up trumps at the 60th National Film Awards. The Sunday Indian analyses why ‘Bollywood’ movies that are not made for the 100-crore club are really the only ones that are worth celebrating

The 60th National Film Awards announced on Monday, more than anything else, have come as a strong vindication of the efficacy of independent cinema that blends the need for entertainment with a spirit of creative adventure. Nowhere is that truer than in the case of the healthy complement of Hindi-language films that have been adjudged worthy of being feted by the President of India.

The value of the National Film Awards stem primarily from the fact that they aren’t, as a rule, influenced by extraneous commercial considerations or the crowd-pulling capacity of the reigning movie stars, which, incidentally, are the two principal pillars on which all the Mumbai cinema-dominated, made-for-television award shows firmly stand.

The National Awards are meant to recognize excellence in Indian cinema – and that, barring stray aberrations, is exactly what they do. This year has been a perfect demonstration of what sets these awards well apart from the all the other glitzy star-driven events that are avowedly about showcasing the biggest and the brightest of the industry and not necessarily about celebrating cinema for its own sake.

Hindi, Malayalam and Marathi cinema have cornered the lion’s share of the major National Awards this year, with cinema in the national language securing a greater presence on the honours list than usual.

Tigmanshu Dhulia’s critically acclaimed Paan Singh Tomar has been adjudged the best film of the year gone by. The film’s male lead, the redoubtable Irrfan Khan, has won the best actor. Nothing could have been better for Hindi cinema – the two awards for Paan Singh Tomar are not only richly deserved, they provide a fillip to filmmakers who, while staying within the parameters of the Mumbai movie industry, desire and strive to carve their own niche.

The jury, in its citation, has lauded Paan Singh Tomar for its “sleek and sensitive handling of a not-too-common subject with remarkable aplomb”. Indeed, unwavering authenticity of location and lingo is the prime strength of the film, which narrates a gritty tale of the eponymous athlete-turned-brigand whose brief run from the law in the ravines of Chambal ended in dusty death in a police encounter in the early 1980s.

It certainly wasn’t easy for Dhulia to bring to the screen the compelling story of an ordinary villager, soldier and steeplechase champion who was forced by rural oppression and lack of redress to take up arms against the law.

The director worked on the idea for close to a decade, researched his subject thoroughly and, when he eventually got down to filming, he shot on actual locations, including the places in Chambal and the barracks in Roorkee where the real Paan Singh Tomar lived.

After it was wrapped up, Paan Singh Tomar languished in the cans for a year and a half for want of takers despite the critical applause it earned at festivals around the world. The film finally hit the screens in March 2012 and instantly garnered both critical accolades and commercial success. The rest, as they say, is history.
Recognition for Paan Singh Tomar at the National Awards is also recognition for the kind of culture-specific and rooted cinema that the Mumbai film industry has all but abandoned in its unthinking pursuit of big box office returns.

Significantly, all the other Hindi films that have won National Awards this year have emerged from independent spaces where funds weren’t plentiful and star power was barely available. These films swam against the tide with intent: one revolved around a heroine who is heavily pregnant all through a narrative set in Kolkata, the other dealt with the travails of a young sperm donor in Delhi.

Neither Kahaani nor Vicky Donor left any stone unturned to capture the essence of city that it was set in, even resorting to hit-and-run guerrilla filmmaking methods (especially in the case of the former) to shoot scenes on crowded streets and bylanes. Despite being fictional stories with dramatic twists, both films had a real feel to them.  

In both Kahaani, which has fetched director Sujoy Ghosh the best original screenplay award, and Vicky Donor, which has been named the “best popular film providing wholesome entertainment”, the script was supreme. The actors, outstanding as they were, had to play second fiddle. It was cinema that was the ultimate winner.
Indeed, who would have imagined that a film about a guy who works for a fertility clinic with little-known actors in the cast would go on to conquer all manner of scepticism and score big at the box office and in the critical ratings? An unqualified triumph for director Shoojit Sircar, Vicky Donor also fetched two best supporting actor awards – for Annu Kapoor and Dolly Ahluwalia. What a story that!

The jury noted that Vicky Donor is “a wholesome entertainer presented in a breezy and humorous fashion” and went on to praise the filmmaker for “deftly avoiding falling into the beaten track of formula films”.

Kahaani was definitely no less. Vidya Balan may have been beaten to the best actress prize by Usha Jadhav (who won for her powerful performance in the Marathi film, Dhag), but the suspense drama, whose editor Namrata Rao won a well deserved nod from the jury chaired by veteran filmmaker Basu Chatterjee, proved that there can be no substitute for artistic integrity.

The director made no compromises with his vision – the refusal to kowtow to demands of the marketplace served to make Kahaani a huge success story that it eventually became. The National Awards are only the icing on the cake.

It is significant that all the three Mumbai-based directors in question – Dhulia, Ghosh and Sircar – dared to follow their hearts in a movie industry where it is customary for superstars and big banners to call the shots and determine what kind of cinema gets into the distribution chain. These directors are among those that are spearheading a much-needed revolution and the National Awards for their work is proof that they are well on course.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

The Survivor

The wafer-thin margin of win in the Venezuelan presidential elections means that Nicolas Maduro will have to deliver results in governance and fast

This was supposed to be an easy victory. But when it came, it turned out to be a bitterly contested one. One that brought in its share of worries and introspection.

Venezuela's interim President Nicolas Maduro has triumphed in the Venezuelan presidential election with 50.66 percent of the vote against 49.07 percent for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski. According to the “first bulletin” results that were declared by the president of the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE), Tibisay Lucena, with 99.12 percent of the votes totaled, President Maduro had bagged enough votes to make his victory irreversible.

Of the total popular vote polled, Nicolas Maduro received a total of 7,505,338 votes, against 7,270,403 for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, with the margin of victory coming down to a wire-thin 234,935 votes. Total turnout was 78.71 percent, close to three percent down from the previous election last year when Chavez had easily trumped Capriles.

Of the 24 provinces and special territories, Capriles won a majority in eight, namely Zulia, Miranda, Lara, Anzoátegui, Táchira, Mérida, Nueva Esparta and Bolívar. Maduro bagged a  majority in the other sixteen. However, in contrast with the present election, in the October 2012 polls, Hugo Chavez had managed to easily win all but provinces of Merida and Tachira in the Andean region. And even in these two provinces, Capriles had barely managed to outsmart Chavez.

As this story goes to print, the opposition had refused to acknowledge the results and wanted a hundred percent manual audit of the results as opposed to 54 percent audit limit set by the National Electoral Council. President Maduro, on his part, immediately accepted the challenge. However, the Venezuelan electoral system is a wll-nigh fool-proof mechanism that consists of both digital vote recording as well as manual ballot punching. And that is why it is almost certain that the audit is not likely to change the numbers substantially.

Two of the biggest election observers' groups, The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) electoral accompaniment mission and OAS declared the process valid and asked the opposition to respect the results and the National Electoral Council. International Electoral Observers, a group of over 40 observers that were deployed by the opposition MUD coalition to observe the process supported MUD's demand of a manual recount but refused to call the process a fraud in a setback to the opposition. Under the circumstances, the National Electoral Council has declared Maduro, president-elect.

However, the results has shocked the Chavistas and has raised questions over the strength of the movement following the death of Chavez. Experts suggest there are several factors that led to the less than impressive performance by the ruling coalition.

The biggest factor is the media campaign. Contrary to the popular belief, the media in Venezuela is largely private and owned either by big corporation aligned to the opposition or in many case the opposition figures themselves. The government owned media has a viewership of merely six percent and it has, by law, to show the campaigns of both the candidates. The private media is not bind by any such restrictions and thus lead a spirited campaign against Maduro. In the past too, situation was not much different, but Chavez's charisma was enough to offset any campaign. Not Maduro's.

“Maduro’s campaign itself had its challenges and weaknesses. Unlike Capriles, who had already run in February (in primaries), and in October, then in December to win as governor of Miranda, Maduro had never campaigned before. He had little time to learn how to do it, and to consolidate himself as a possible leader in people’s eye,” says Ewan Robertson, a political analyst who keeps an eye on the Venezuelan politics and runs an analysis website.

Also, there are areas where Maduro's government will have to show improvements and fast. There appears to be a perennial shortage of some food and other items from the market. As most of these businessmen and suppliers are opposition supporters, the evidence suggesting sabotage did not came as a surprise. However, voters are not going to listen to excuses. If it is sabotage, it wants the government to crack down on them and make stringent laws in order to address the problems at hand. Similarly, other economic issues need to be explained to the people outside the margins of rhetoric. The setback will definitely make the government take notice.

“Most of the western press has been unsuccessfully forecasting imminent economic collapse in Venezuela for 14 years, and this theme has been prominent lately. The press, which relies almost completely on opposition sources, will be wrong again,” says Mark Weisbrot, a Venezuelan political analyst.

Also, there was a massive misinformation campaign launched by the opposition in order to confuse the voters. For example, Capriles, who has always opposed Bolivarian Revolution in the past, actually promised the voters that not only will he carry on the Missions program started by Chavez and will deliver as many as 2,00,000 new house every year, he also promised, again like Chavez, to raise the minimum wages. In fact, Capriles left no opportunity to tacitly make voters believe that he is sort of a successor to Chavez. This clearly confused many voters who decided to give chance to a known face as opposed to a relatively unknown ex-Foreign Minister.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA