With Pleasure....

Mr. Ralph Spencer, the phoenix that arose from Jimmy Valentine’s ashes – ashes left by the flame of a sudden and alterative attack of love – remained in Elmore, and prospered. He opened a shoe-store and secured a good run of trade.

A Retrieved Reformation (for me, Jimmy Valentine) – O.Henry

I was fascinated by the idea of a phoenix when I had first read Jimmy Valentine. It rises from its own ashes and is reborn anew to live again. Wish we could all do so. Or, is that that we all have a phoenix in all of us? For some one who has seen the best as well as the worst of the times, rising from his/her own ashes is not a big deal. Troubled times are but passing moments, have faith in love, it just might resurrect you!

Finally, I had the pleasure of watching The Artist. Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist. Jean Dujardin’s The Artist. The Academy Award winner, The Artist. I must admit, I have been bestowed with friends who appreciate my love for cinema and make ways, quite genuinely of course, to help me watch shows that are otherwise pretty costly. Thank you dear(s) for making my wishes come true and thank you all who encourage me to write! Now writing on an English movie, with a French director is Herculean task for me. But as I thought of it, I recalled a day, almost a decade back, when I had actually written a piece on an English movie! I.S.C. Examination and I composed an essay on Titanic as my favorite film, and readers, it is still one of my most cherished movies ever and I vow to watch it on 3D, April 2012, at a theatre, perhaps not so near to me!

The Artist follows the old premise of films-within-a film and takes us back to the late Twenties and early Thirties Hollywood with an acclaimed silent movie star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) and a chirpy, beguiling young female lead Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) at the onset of the talkies. The film makes the literal use of the proverb ‘pride goes before a fall’ as Valentin refuses to compromise. He feels no need to ‘speak’ to draw his audience. “If that’s the future, you can have it”, he ‘says’ to the studio boss Al Zimmer (John Goodman) and the producers, who watch a test-footage on screen. Miller rises as the budding star of Hollywood with her ‘Beauty Spot’ and the ‘young’ face, as well as the ‘sound’ of the new age cinema. (I wish we could have heard her once!) You can guess it right, Miller has been an ardent follower of Valentin and as she is accidentally pictured with her favorite star, her life begins to change. A hoofer that she is, her attitude (“Miller. The name’s Peppy Miller!”) as well as her talent help her in the journey of making it big in the tinsel town. Valentin produces Tears of Love but fails miserably as the talkies survive in the ballet of the fittest. Deserted by his wife (who had been trying to ‘talk’ to her husband for a long time) and left alone with the doggie (Uggie, whose presence heightens up the EQ of the film, somewhat Chaplinesque too) and Clifton, his secretary (James Cromwell), Valentin has a tough time living only in the resonating silent memories of the past.

He puts his old reels on fire, except ‘clutching’ the one which Peppy had her first role. An excellently captured footage of the two, dancing, is a haunting image of brilliance. His terrier saves his master and as we have thought, he is sheltered at Peppy’s house who is delighted at his recovery. For a man who has lived his pride, finding all his auctioned belongings at her place is not easy. He leaves her place only to return to his burnt apartment. As he contemplates suicide, our heroine arrives and his life is saved, the second time. For those who have not yet seen the film, let Valentin say the last word!

The Artist makes every possible move effective in its use of silence. Hazanavicius does not retort to silence because the film is set in the era of silent pictures itself, but he knows that sound and fury would only mar the magic. Ludovic Bource’s music captures it all and Guillaume Schiffman’s cinematography breathes life in every frame. What would our own Bharata say, if he was alive? The film is a triumph of the Rasas, the power of abhinaya: Bhavas, Vibhavas, Anubhavas, Sthayibhavas, Vyabhicharibhavas and Satvikabhavas and again the eight Sthayibhavas namely Rati (love), Hasa (laughter), Shoka (sorrow), Krodha (anger), Utsaha (energy), Bhaya (fear), Jugupsa (disgust) and Vismaya (amazement). These are the driving forces in the film. Colours are not celebrated here, only silence is amidst the backdrop of an astounding musical score.

The scenes where Peppy slides her hand in Valentin’s coat only to caress herself, or when Valentin watches and later joins to the dance-steps of Peppy from behind the partially-raised studio backdrop, or when he finds it painful to hear himself as the talkies replace the silent pictures, make you realize how powerful silence can be. The moment Valentin confronts his shadow on the screen is terrifyingly Jungian.

Valentin, like my Valentine in the beginning, rises from his ashes. And the director safely plays with a plot that might not seem very new, but makes monochrome look sexier like never before and reminds you of what a ‘picture’ as moving as The Artist is capable of doing.

Mr. Director, what’s your next? We shall wait, “With pleasure, Sir!”

Ghostly Fun!

There was a time when Bengali films meant the clinching fists of Prosenjit or Chiranjeet. Cheap and horribly shot dance sequences and the same background scores for all the revenge dramas. There were rare glimpses of a Mrinal Sen or a Budhdhadeb Das Gupta movie but they only appeased the critics and went un-noticed , except for a few shows at Nandan, thanks to the National Awards! Then was Rituparno Ghosh. “Unishe April” which brought the Bengali audience back to the theaters. And then there was no looking back; if a Rituparna-Prosenjit starrer “Shasurbari Zindabaad” allured the masses, “Dahan” and “Bariwali” attracted the classes. Result? A clear distinction between the so called ‘art’ films (antlamir ekshesh, for which I am still criticized!) and the ‘commercial’ cinema. Thankfully, the demarcations are blurred today. You have either good films or bad ones.

As I caught a show of “Bhooter Bhobishyot” today, I had an amazing experience. Just imagine, you are ten minutes away from the evening show at Highland Park. You have seen on the net that there are only 8 tickets left, two hours before the show time. Still you leisurely walk and stand at the queue at the BO ticket counter. Five minutes left for the show and a man comes and offers you two tickets for the same show, and that too, your favorite aisle seats!! What can you say? Perhaps,"Bhoutik”.

Parambrata is an ad film-maker. He comes for his recce at ‘Choudhury Bari’, a heritage building somewhere in Kolkata, accompanied by his assistant director Rinka and production manager. As he waits for his DOP Sumit da to arrive, he meets a man (Sabyasachi), who tries to help him find a good plot for his feature film, which Ayan (Parambrata) wants to direct. What follows is an intriguing take on consumerism and the director humorously brings out the pathos of the ghosts of Kolkata as they struggle for a place to survive. The ghosts have been deprived of accommodation as the consumerist approaches have resulted in the demolition of the oldest buildings in the city. The ghosts have not been able to find a suitable representation either in the government, or in the media, they have not participated in meetings and ‘michhils’ and they remain marginalized after their death! The ‘Choudhury Bari’ is their last hope which has not yet been demolished. So an interview board is set up and only the eligible ghosts are accepted as the residents of the house.

The ghosts include an old-time actor Kadalibala Debi, a ‘Bangaal’ patriot, a Kargil-martyr, a soldier from the Battle of Plassey, a Bhojpuri rickshawpuller, a wannabe rock star who had died because of a drug-overdose, a charming young girl who committed suicide (a spoof on a city love-story that made to the headlines, if you recall well!), an English civil servant from the East India Company and of course, the ‘Raibahadur’ himself, Darpanarayan Roy Choudhury. (Ray reminder!) National and international ghosts struggle for their existence but only the selected candidates are allowed to stay.

The ghosts celebrate ‘Bhoot Choturdoshi’ as they walk on ramp and sing their hearts out. The ‘Bangaal’ patriot being a true Bong, brings Ilish from the market to have it devoured, the rock-star strums his guitar to voice out his rebellious self, Kadalibala Devi attracts the Plassey-soldier and the patriot, the Kargil-martyr is vested with the duty of maintaining discipline in the house and by now I hope you can fathom the laughter riot that goes on the screen!

The actors Swastika, Samadarshi, Bishwajeet, Mumtaz, Paran and George Baker need no praises. Uday Shankar Pal as the Bhojpuri rickshawallah who mouths “hami to garib aadmi ache” continuously is a sheer pleasure to watch. But the man who needs a special mention is undoubtedly Sumit Samadder who plays the ‘bangaal’. His lust for Padma-r-Ilish even after death and his wrong usage of some obscene words are so brilliantly fused that he can any day become one of the most unforgettable characters of Bengali cinema. Saswata as ‘Hath-kata-kartik’ and Mir as the promoter ‘Bhut’oria are as usual screen-delights. Samadarshi is a comic-genius and after ‘Ichche’, he proves that comedy can be his cup of tea too! The way he criticizes bourgeoisie mindsets, corrects ‘Che’ as ‘Shey’ Guevara or makes Koel (Mumtaz) understand his romantic ideas are the funny moments in the film. The eternal battle between the Hindus and the Muslims or the ‘Bangaal’s and the ‘Ghoti’s attain newer heights, all for fun sake.

The film takes off very well but the pace sometimes falters in the second half. But that’s forgiven. Anik Datta blurs the real and the absurd and the climax is indeed ghostly! The most enjoyable moments in the film are the ones where the ghosts speak in rhymes (remember Rekha in “Khoobsurat”?) I loved it! Only if the director had taken special care to continue it for the rest of the film!

The ghosts unite to have revenge on the human beings who are trying to bring the heritage buildings down for their own commercial needs. Do they succeed? If so, how? You need to watch it for the answer. I hate giving out the story, you know!But do watch out for 'Spookbook' the official social network site for the ghosts, you never know you might land up with an 'item girl'!

Abhik Mikhopadhdhay is the DOP of the film and after a long time, he is back with his shades on screen. Raja Narayan Deb, who arranged music for Rituparno’s “Noukadubi” is the music director here and harmonizes well. But the background score somehow reminds you of Satyajit Ray, but since the director makes a spoof, he takes the liberty. Anik Datta comes from an advertising background and the music is just the kind you would expect from an ad-man.

“Bhooter Bhobishyot” is one of those rare movies, which cannot be given any particular dictum of an art or a commercial movie. It aims at pleasing the audience and perhaps, making the producer happy with the returns! The layered narratives on the socio-political scenario and a message on the demolition of the heritage buildings for the ‘malls and mutro’(!) are conscious efforts on the part of the director who merges pleasure and purpose to make you laugh as well as think.

If you want some crude jokes, if you want to see a beautiful Swastika, if you want some fun and if you want to revisit an historical past, this pot-boiler spiced with passion, emotions, an item song, a crisis and a resolution should be a treat to make you forget the fever and the fret. Go, pay a visit to the future of the past and enjoy this "chhaya" chhobi!