Vimarsh

In 2017, a Hindi remake of the 2015 Bengali film Rajkahini is made and released, 'Begum Jaan'. It was the first Hindi film by the famous and appreciated Bengali director, Srijit Mukherji. 'Rajkhaini' directly deals with the issue of Partition. The movie deals with the problems faced by the Radcliffe's border from Bengal's side. One of the problems is a Brothel of Begum Jaan through which the border is supposed to be passed and hence it needed to be vacated. 'Begum Jaan' is also about the same story-line from Punjab's side. But, there is a big difference between both the films, especially in terms of tone. Rajkahini is out and out dark with ample background of the scenario of partition. Riots and political upheavals are clearly depicted. Before the audience meets the brothel and Begum Jaan, they are well informed about the scenario and the dark times the film is about. In Hindi version, the character of Begum Jaan seems to be more important t...

How do you remember the riots in your neighborhood? What's your memory of those dark hours of humanity? It depends on which side you were. Whether you were direct or indirect oppressed group or the oppressor, selects the images of your memory. On 17 October 1961, during the Algerian war,  the  French National Police  attacked a  demonstration  of some 30,000 pro- National Liberation Front  (FLN) Algerians.  After 37 years of denial and  censorship  of the press, in 1998 the French government finally acknowledged 40 deaths, although there are estimates of 100 to 300 victims.  Death was due to  heavy-handed beating by the police , as well as massive drownings, as police officers threw demonstrators in the river  Seine . ' Caché ' also known as 'Hidden', a 2005 psychological thriller directed by Micheal Haneke brings the issues of collective memory and collective guilt of French Society to the fore about the above mentione...

સુભાષ કપૂર દ્વારા નિર્દેશિત ૨૦૧૫ની ફિલ્મ "ગુડ્ડુ રંગીલા" હરિયાણા રાજ્યની ખાપ પંચાયત અને જાતિવાદની વાત લઇ ને આવે છે. બંને હીરો, ગુડ્ડુ અને રંગીલા, નીચી જાતિના છે, અને ગવૈયા તરીકે કામ કરી પોતાનું ગુજરાન ચલાવે છે. પણ સાથે જ કોના ઘરમાં કેટલી મિલકત છે એની મુખબરી લુટારાઓ ને કરીને વધારાની આવક પણ ઉભી કરી લે છે. બીજી તરફ બાહુબલી નેતા બિલ્લુ પેહલવાન, જે શિવજી ના ભક્ત અને બ્રાહ્મણ છે, ખાપ પંચાયતના ઓર્ડર પર નીચી જાતિના પુરુષો સાથે પરણેલ ઉચ્ચ જાતિની દીકરીઓને સજા આપવાનું કામ કરે છે. અને ખાપ પંચાયતની સજા હોય છે યુગલનું મોત. રંગીલાના આવી એક સઝાનો ભોગ બની ચુક્યો છે, એના મામા અને ગુડ્ડુના પિતાને બીલ્લુએ જાહેરમાં સળગાવી દીધા હતા. રંગીલાને પણ ગોળી વાગી પરંતુ બચી ગયો. આ કારણવશ રંગીલાને બિલ્લુ પાસેથી બદલો લેવો છે, અને એ બદલાની વાર્તા આ ફિલ્મ કરે છે. એક હીરો છે - રંગીલા, એક વિલન છે - બિલ્લુ. અને બીલ્લુંના વધથી વાર્તાનો અંત આવે છે. જાતિવાદ વિષે હાલમાં કેટલીક સારી ફિલ્મો આવી છે, અને આ મુદ્દો એટલો મજબુત છે કે એના પર ઘણું સારું કામ કરી શકાય. પરંતુ સુભાષ કપૂરને મુદ્દા કરતા ફિલ્મ વધુ મહત્વની લાગી...

MississippiBurning  is an eye opening film about the  Racism  in a small town of Mississippi. Film begins on the killing of three Human Right Activists by the police in the town. The trio was declared missing and CIA starts the investigation. As everyone is involved, including the police and judiciary, in the hate crime against the Colored people, the very powerful CIA also remains helpless and the attacks on colored people and their killings and rapes continued right in front  of the eyes of CIA officers by  KuKluxKlan . The film is reminder of the fact that a brain-washed society can go to any extent to prove their superiority by any means, and harmony becomes a distant call. On top of that, if this extremism enters the system of law and order, it becomes even more dangerous, because then, the state machinery is used to expand extremist motives. We are witnessing similar situations, aren't we? The most disturbing part is that the film is based on th...

Hitchcock  has a powerful influence on world cinema and bollywood is not far behind in taking concepts, ideas and influence from maestro. 60s and 70s was the time when Hitchcockian suspense genre was introduced in Hindi cinema. Films like  Anita  (1967, Raj Khosla),  Gumnaam  (1965, Raj Nawathe),  Woh Kaun thi ? (1964, Raj Khosla),  Baharon Ki Manzil  (1968, Yakub Hasan Rizvi),  Mera Saaya  (1966, Raj Khosla) were heavily influenced and inspire d by Hitchcock's films. They were so much inspired by Hitchcock that they even copied framing and background music from the original, apart from occasional plot similarities. There are two characteristics in these movies which were indigenous: first, melodious songs and second, comedy tract. The films, though entertaining, lack the masterful weaving of fears and desires in Hitchcock's movies. #Hitchcock #Anita  # Gumnaam     # Woh_Kaun_thi   # Baharon_Ki_Manzil ...

As always, I woke up late. But, fortunately there was nothing important to attain. So, just started an uneventful day with tea and aalu-parotha. Afterwards, when I went out to give the car to service station, due to newly built flyovers in Vadodara city and the new drivers of bikes, most possibly without licence, it took us more than an hour to reach Chhaani. Meanwhile, heavy downfall of rain is introduced on our way and the rainwater  decided to stay on the road. Sanskar Nagari has always been very courteous to the guests, and it maintained the tradition for the rain-water too. We had a good welcome at service station too. We had to leave our car there. We decided to take an auto to reach Bus-depot first amidst the continuous heavy rain. We could manage three plastic bags to save our mobile phones and the pink currency notes in out wallets. I've heard that these pink notes are generous in spreading the pinky happiness to adjacent currencies and we were in no mood of increasing th...

Last evening, I complete the 2016, Indian Action-comedy film Dishoom, directed by Rohit Dhawan. The most conspicuous aspect of the movie, for me, was the representation of Muslim characters. The film is set in UAE and hence there will be a dearth of Muslim characters. In fact, there are more Muslim characters than from any other religion. But, the problem lies in the portrayal of those characters. Almost all the stereotypes have been utilized in this single flick. The main vilaine of the movie is named Wagha, he's devoid of any real identity; but most others working for him are Muslims. Altaf Dad is one of them, who lives in Abuddin, a Muslim dominated area which is the hub for anti-social activities. As it is shown in the movie, all the criminal activities - selling the weapons on road to drugs and human trafficking,  prostitution and illegal batting and wrestling - are taking place here in full view of public, implying that everyone is involved in it. The police chief des...