Colors of man
I finally caught up with two movies that I had wanted to watch for a long time. And they left me thoroughly impressed. They had nothing to do with each other. The context was different. Set in different continents. Different cultures. But I was impressed for the same reasons. Excellent acting, ensemble cast, powerful screenplay.
Rang De Basanti begins in a solemn sepia tone. Indian freedom fighters on the throes of death. The depiction of a hanging. Of three people, no less. But neither the abruptness nor the brutal act disturbs you. In fact, the inner cynic smiles and says, how many times do I have to go through this, move on please. But then, right before the noose tightens, music kicks in. Not the type of music associated with a tragic situation. It is the type reserved for blissful happiness. And that is when you begin to wonder. Did Rahman make a mistake, or, a disturbing thought arises, is this intentional? As if the screenwriter knew exactly what you were thinking at that moment and decided to twist the plot in response. Rang De is filled with several such moments of surrealism and treads the untreaded path in Indian cinema. One has to applaud the makers as Rang De has one of the most complex screenplays witnessed in a mainstream Bollywood project.
The movie takes you back and forth between a world populated by generation Y and one from the past that looks disconnected, unreal. The nonlinear narrative, though disconcerting for the average viewer, is poetic in places. When Aslam gets frustrated, walks upstairs and throws open the door to his room... in he walks, minus beard and long hair, into a sepia-toned past where people mouth dialogues that get more and more quaint as we go along. So you say, whats the point? Before you know, one of the characters says, whats the point? Tricked, again.
The infectious laughter and good natured camaraderie the group enjoys slowly sinks into you and you go along for the ride. It seems harmless, and you're curious to see what the heck is going on. Slowly but surely, the people in the sepia toned past make more and more sense, not by what they say, but by the subtle undertone of what you feel the character in the movie is thinking while playing the character he is playing in the movie within the movie. I just felt fulfilled at that point. For a movie to inspire this kind of thought into the subtext of its characters, is simply mind-blowing.
Then the movie picks up speed and things start happening, and it also begins to falter. Because, now you can predict exactly what's going to happen. The sepia toned characters start sounding corny again. There is a lot of repetition. And by the end, you really feel insulted. The characters end up being caricatures of themselves. And boy, do they look stupid. Still, I can give the benefit of doubt to the screenwriter, for he seems to have faithfully adhered to tying the parallel narratives together up until the end. You could suspect if the real excuse is to dumb the movie down for mass consumption, like Shankar from the south does in every other movie where he has a "message". The comparison is unfair, since Rang De is leaps and bounds ahead by way of using subtely to say what it has to say that even the sincere Swades looks corny in comparison.
Definitely worth a watch, especially for generations X, Y and Z.
Now, did I say two movies? The other one left me dumbfounded for it fixed the exact problem that Rang De suffers from. And it stretches parallel narratives to the limit without affecting credulity likewise. If you watched the Oscars this year, you know the movie I'm talking about. It won 3 oscars, including best picture. Crash. An awesomely unpredictable screenplay with enough twists to keep you hooked, a stunning sub-text of racism and clash of cultures and simple situations tied to powerful implications, an ensemble cast to die for but used sparingly to perfection (Sandra Bullock appears in 7 frames total), and a tagline that sounds corny before and deep after... Crash is clever, deep, and powerful without being overtly so at any point. Subtely is king all the way through. For all the twists, not one seems contrived, which in itself is magical.
The thread of the subtext is held meticulously all the way through, even the last frame is funny and sad at the same time.
So where did Rang De falter? In Crash, the characters never get out of character, but they do things you dont expect them to do. From a storytelling standpoint, it is beautiful.
Rang De Basanti begins in a solemn sepia tone. Indian freedom fighters on the throes of death. The depiction of a hanging. Of three people, no less. But neither the abruptness nor the brutal act disturbs you. In fact, the inner cynic smiles and says, how many times do I have to go through this, move on please. But then, right before the noose tightens, music kicks in. Not the type of music associated with a tragic situation. It is the type reserved for blissful happiness. And that is when you begin to wonder. Did Rahman make a mistake, or, a disturbing thought arises, is this intentional? As if the screenwriter knew exactly what you were thinking at that moment and decided to twist the plot in response. Rang De is filled with several such moments of surrealism and treads the untreaded path in Indian cinema. One has to applaud the makers as Rang De has one of the most complex screenplays witnessed in a mainstream Bollywood project.
The movie takes you back and forth between a world populated by generation Y and one from the past that looks disconnected, unreal. The nonlinear narrative, though disconcerting for the average viewer, is poetic in places. When Aslam gets frustrated, walks upstairs and throws open the door to his room... in he walks, minus beard and long hair, into a sepia-toned past where people mouth dialogues that get more and more quaint as we go along. So you say, whats the point? Before you know, one of the characters says, whats the point? Tricked, again.
The infectious laughter and good natured camaraderie the group enjoys slowly sinks into you and you go along for the ride. It seems harmless, and you're curious to see what the heck is going on. Slowly but surely, the people in the sepia toned past make more and more sense, not by what they say, but by the subtle undertone of what you feel the character in the movie is thinking while playing the character he is playing in the movie within the movie. I just felt fulfilled at that point. For a movie to inspire this kind of thought into the subtext of its characters, is simply mind-blowing.
Then the movie picks up speed and things start happening, and it also begins to falter. Because, now you can predict exactly what's going to happen. The sepia toned characters start sounding corny again. There is a lot of repetition. And by the end, you really feel insulted. The characters end up being caricatures of themselves. And boy, do they look stupid. Still, I can give the benefit of doubt to the screenwriter, for he seems to have faithfully adhered to tying the parallel narratives together up until the end. You could suspect if the real excuse is to dumb the movie down for mass consumption, like Shankar from the south does in every other movie where he has a "message". The comparison is unfair, since Rang De is leaps and bounds ahead by way of using subtely to say what it has to say that even the sincere Swades looks corny in comparison.
Definitely worth a watch, especially for generations X, Y and Z.
Now, did I say two movies? The other one left me dumbfounded for it fixed the exact problem that Rang De suffers from. And it stretches parallel narratives to the limit without affecting credulity likewise. If you watched the Oscars this year, you know the movie I'm talking about. It won 3 oscars, including best picture. Crash. An awesomely unpredictable screenplay with enough twists to keep you hooked, a stunning sub-text of racism and clash of cultures and simple situations tied to powerful implications, an ensemble cast to die for but used sparingly to perfection (Sandra Bullock appears in 7 frames total), and a tagline that sounds corny before and deep after... Crash is clever, deep, and powerful without being overtly so at any point. Subtely is king all the way through. For all the twists, not one seems contrived, which in itself is magical.
The thread of the subtext is held meticulously all the way through, even the last frame is funny and sad at the same time.
So where did Rang De falter? In Crash, the characters never get out of character, but they do things you dont expect them to do. From a storytelling standpoint, it is beautiful.
posted by bigsur at 11:19 PM
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