Review of Michael Winterbottom's Trishna trailer

Trishna is Michael Winterbottom's latest cinematic offering and his third film adaptation of a Thomas Hardy novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Trishna stars Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed with original music by Amit Trivedi, and is set in contemporary Rajasthan.

According to Trishna's official Facebook page, "The movie tells the story of Trishna (Freida Pinto) who meets a weathly young British businessman, Jay Singh (Riz Ahmed), who has come to India to work in his father's hotel business. After an accident destroys her father's Jeep, Trishna goes to work for Jay and they fall in love. But despite their feelings for each other, they cannot escape the conflicting pressures of a rural society which is changing rapidly through industrialisation, urbanisation and, above all, education. Trishna's tragedy is that she is torn between the traditions of her family life and the dreams and ambitions that her education has given her."

The trailer for the movie is beautiful, with the music haunting you long after the trailer ends. I can’t wait to hear all the songs of the movie - hoping for another magical album by Amit Trivedi. It is also refreshing to see "modern" Rajasthan in the trailer rather than just the typical scenes of deserts, villagers and camels usually shown.

Riding high on her success in Hollywood, Freida Pinto returns to play an out and out Indian part as a young woman from Rajasthan – also a refreshing change. Of course will have to watch the movie to decide whether she embodies her Indian character as well as she does her Hollywood characters.

For more about Trishna, subscribe to the its Youtube channel, follow its Twitter account and ‘Like’ its Facebook page

Rang Rasiya (Colours of Passion)- Movie Review

Source: http://j.mp/mFvD7K

The second day of the London Indian Film Festival 2011 (LIFF) featured the screening of the Ketan Mehta movie, Rang Rasiya, at the Victoria and Albert museum.

Rang Rasiya is a movie that tells the story of the Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma and his tryst with art, science and technology against the backdrop of religious and conservative British India. Over 500years later the issues tackled in the movie are still pertinent; MF Hussain and the uproar over his art. With many non-Indian characters and being set in British India, the movie is in both English and Hindi giving it a more realistic touch.

Rang Rasiya tells a beautiful story of an unsung Indian hero but as one viewer said, “the movie succeeds in conveying a message but through a torturous journey”. The movie starts off abruptly with many confusing characters; especially that of the wife and Kamini. Fortunately the despite the abruptness the story is not lost. The songs are lovely but don’t do justice to the on-goings of the movie. A song-less movie with a melodious background score would have worked better.

The movie belongs to Randeep Hooda who does an exceptional job as the great Indian painter. He acts convincingly and adds life to the story. Only thing off might be him having a six-pack even in old age (I’m guessing the girls won’t mind). For the actresses, Nandana Sen and Ferena Wazeir do a good job. Ferena performs well in her role though I wish her character was better defined. Nandana Sen acts well and the scene where she breaks down stands out.

Rang Rasiya was completed 2 years ago and has been in the news since then about the controversial nudity scenes by Nandana Sen. This scene is one of the most beautifully and artistically shot scenes. In fact it almost looks like a painting. Kudos to Nandana Sen for taking this bold step, and Randeep Hoodda for complimenting her. Many movies claim to showcase “skin-show” artistically but Rang Rasiya is the only movie to fully embody that statement.

All in all, Rang Rasiya is a lovely movie which tells a wonderful story of India. Definitely worth a watch if only to watch the story of Raja Ravi Varma. The movie is expected to have a proper worldwide release in September 2011.

Movie trivia: There are 3 versions of the movie; an all Hindi version, an all English version and a mixed Hindi and English version

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry – Book Review

Source: http://j.mp/iOwUDo

I got ‘A Fine Balance’ at Dishoom (a London Indian restaurant) as part of the ‘World Book Night 2011’ which basically promotes writing and power of books by distributing near 1 million books for free.

A Fine Balance is definitely not a light read. The book is full of dark, depressing and disturbing scenes. Despite the bleak and stark reality of India during the Emergency in India in 1970s, the book inspires in its own way. It inspires in comparison to what Indians have achieved today, more so than India. The writing in the book is superb. Rohinton paints a vivid picture with his words and transports the reader into the world of his characters. It doesn’t matter how different the read is to the characters; the reader ends up connecting with and understanding the vastly different stories of each of the four protagonists of the book. The book is also an eye-opener to the realities of India during the Emergency rule and how the lay-man suffered to fulfill the political agenda of dirty politicians. This might still be the case in India today, but the sufferings during the Emergency were of another level.

I loved reading the book and felt enlightened about the India of the 1970s that I had not witnessed. The book is a great read but not for when you’re feeling down and depressed.

Uproar over movies

Recently there was an article in the news about how chick flicks are degrading the female population by a negative and weak portrayal of female characters. This came on the heels of the numerous criticisms about Slumdog Millionaire. I find both these issues stem from a single phenomenon; movie audiences today have lost the sense of reality in entertainment. I mean what is so wrong about showing the reality of some women who do indeed have shopping obsessions or those who desperately cling onto a man to feel complete? Also have the rich Indians today forgotten the slums that line the perimeter of their booming metropolitan city and the slum dwellers who exit side by side with them? It is very convenient to close our eyes and say these females or these slum dwellers don't exist and the movies are unfair portrayal of the "truth" in an effort to disgrace the female population or India.

I have seen 3 chick flicks in the last 2 months; He's just not that into you, Confessions of a shopaholic and Bride Wars. I am also a diehard fan of Mean girls and White Chicks. Does that mean I am on the side of the chauvinistic males who rule society and females alike? Not at all! In fact there are a lot of movies that portray men as the chauvinistic male pigs who couldn't give 2 hoots about using a woman's body and walking away. Now does that mean that is the typical man in the world? I certainly hope not. This man is just 1 of the many kinds of men who inhibit the world. So why then the uproar over the true portrayal of the "weaker" kinds of females?

The same goes for Slumdog Millionaire. The irony over the issue here is much larger since the majority of Indians live below the poverty line. Mumbai aka Bombay has the largest slums and a large, thriving slum dwelling population. How do you expect to deny this fact? What is so wrong with showing this to the world? In fact I applaud the movie for showing how a slum boy aka slumdog rose up in society to become a millionaire. Isn't that something to be proud of? Such stories though not the norm are a true fact of the Indian landscape. Stories of boys and girls coming to the big city with nothing more than dreams of making it big. These same people have gone to achieve amazing things. Indian should be proud to have such resilient citizens who dare to dream and dare to achieve those dreams despite such odds.

I enjoy chick flicks for the humour and the madness of the characters. I even use them as a reminder for myself to not lose my self-confidence and identity as a woman. I have certainly not ran amok after watching "He's just not that into you" looking for the perfect guy and then stalking him all in the hopes of falling in love with Mr. Impossible. Movies are made for entertainment but they usually are based on some kind of reality. This reality may not be the most predominant one but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is still reality.

My visit to Haji Ali Darga

On Sunday I visited the famous Haji Ali Darga in Bombay. It was quite an experience. It was not my first time to a darga as I have been brought up visiting the Ajmer darga. It was in fact the travel to the darga that made it such an experience.

I went there with Param, Kanu, Crystal and Boon. As might be evident, Crystal and Boon are Chinese and were visiting the darga purely for tourist purposes. We 3 Indians consisted of 1 Sikh and 2 Hindus. We made a very religiously diverse group. Shows just how secular India is.

The walk on the causeway leading to the darga was an exhausting one. The sun was shining in all its glory and the crowds swelled as each minute passed. Pushing ahead and sweating buckets, we made the walk to the main entrance of the darga. On the way we were greeted with various sights; beggers- handicapped, desolate, hungry.. yet praying; vendors- selling knickknacks, snacks, balloons, religious items and various others. What got my attention was a vendor selling cassettes of Arabic chants at one point playing Hindu devotional songs. It really touched my heart.

The sun was shining so bad that my sweat was getting into my eyes..even as i was wearing my shades. We girls all had scarves on our heads for the purpose of respecting the doctrine of the darga. But I was more thankful for it shielding our heads from the harsh rays of the sun. Once we removed our footwear, we realized just how hot the floor was. The guys were lucky as they had their socks. Poor us girls, our feet were literally getting baked on the hot stone flooring. Hopping in and out of the little shade we made (squeezed) our way in the main area to offer our offerings and to pay our respects. There was a separate area of females and males. Seemed like a good idea; in terms of the crowd, security and stuff. However I wasn't too pleased as when we went in as far as we could, I found out that females couldn't even touch the tomb. Big disappointment for me as I am used to the full access everyone gets in the darga in Ajmer. Also the chaotic manner in which the offerings were being offered resulted in only Param getting back her offering. Mine was lost in the melee. Another disappoint as compared to darga in Ajmer where no matter the size of the crowd, each person always got back their offerings.

All in all it was a good visit to a revered place. I felt good being in a spiritual place after a long time.

To find out more about the Haji Ali Darga you can visit these sites,
http://www.haji-ali.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haji_Ali_Dargah

The view of the causeway leading to the darga on the islet

View of the darga

The main hall where the tomb is. You can also see the colourful chaddars offered

The crowd on the causeway. This photo shows the way back to the city

Crystal, Kanu, Me and Param against the darga

Crystal, Boon, Me and Param on the causeway against the darga

Ajmer...my home

We reached the motherland when we landed in Delhi airport and continued our onward journey to Ajmer. We finally reached our final destination and it was the most joyous moment was when we reached home to be welcomed by Baby Masi and Nanisab (maternal grandmother). I feel so warm each time I see them; I love them so much. Although we were exhausted from the whole day of travelling, the excitement of being home got to us. Everyone was chatting away; spilling travel tales, bringing out the gifts. The feeling of being home was finally sinking in.

My Nani's home in Ajmer for me is my home in India. For me Ajmer is my city, I know the place and the people; it is always great to be back in Ajmer. Actually Ajmer is my mother's city; she was born and brought up there. She studied there, made her career there and was married off from there. The greatest gift she gave my sister and I was when she decided that her children would be born in this lovely city of Ajmer- Sharif.

Speaking of which, like always my family made a trip to the darga. It is such a spiritual experience going there and even more meaningful as we went there a day before Eid. The crowd and the atmosphere were amazing. We were also lucky to witness the daig being functional. The daig is a massive cooking pot in the darga and is large enough for an adult person to stand in. A kind of porridge is cooked in it to be handed out to the poor. The most amazing thing is that when the cooking is done, the people serving the food jump into the boiling porridge to scoop it out. No one ever burns; power of faith.

Other than the darga, we made our usual visit to Pushkar which is a small holly valley-town 2 hours away from Ajmer. Other than its beautiful temples and ghats, it boosts a vibrant and modern tourist market. The market caters to the tourists due to which you can find spaghetti strap tops, tube tops, ultra miniskirts, Arabian pants, hot pants and the kind being sold in ethnic prints and materials. This is quite a shock as the state of Rajasthan is a conservative state.

Being in Ajmer also means watching movies with Raju Mama and going to Mango Masala. The best part is my sister, Raju Mama and me ride on his motorcycle. Add to the bike ride the winter cold, the fun factor gets upped seriously once we're zipping around town on the bike.

Following the things Ajmer means for me and my family, we celebrated our New Year there. It was a small and simple New Year with family and my mother's best friend and her husband. We played crazy games, had a crazy dance item (by Paru, Chotu Didi and me) and had a delicious pineapple cake.

Our sumptuous New Year pineapple cake

Raju Mama and Paru

With Baby Masi, NaniSab, Geeta Masi, Chotu Didi, Paru and Mummy

Geeta Masi and my NaniSab

The daig being emptied

With Paru, Chotu Didi, Mummy and Geeta Masi in Darga

Chotu Didi, Paru and me at the Phushkar ghat

One of the ghats of Pushkar