2 movies based on real life events

House of Gucci: Ridley Scott

Friday night was Gucci night with Lady Gaga, Adam Rider, Al Pacino - directed by Ridley Scott. While I had heard of Gucci and seen them on the pavement of Fashion Street, I never even thought of owning one but like all other luxury brands this also has an aura and a mystery behind it. Gucci was no different.

It’s only after the credits rolled that I got to know the murder of Gucci and the story of patrizia Gucci who was behind the murder and breakage of family busines. Gucci became a public company, there are a lot of articles on the net around Gucci - so one can read about it. 

The movie was a simple narrative and unlike other Ridley Scott movies movies which are larger than life like Gladiator, Blade Runner, Alien, or even the last release ‘The Last Duel’ which bombed in box offfice. I personally thought the length was too long- i have seen shorter and crisper documentaries on Netflix which are gripping and hold you spellbound like Blackhole, Fantastic Fungi. The whole Italian accent was nice but i am not an italian to judge - but they seem to be over the top.  

Shatranj Ke Khiladi - Satyajit Ray

This was in my list for a long time but unlike MUBI which I had taken for a limited time, this is there in Prime so 12 month availability led me to ignore it over other movies. I found some time over the weekend to see it. It was a typical Ray movie, slow, languid and very authentic in terms of language, dress, situations & even dialogues. Brilliant acting by Sanjeev Kumar and Javed Jaffrey and a totally different Amjad Khan who dances with Gopis & hardly speaks. 

The movie was in a way period piece with authentic dresses, thrones, jewelry, carpets and houses, I read that Ray researched the movie for 2 years and went to a museum in London to get the dress / attire right, he looked at paintings drawn in 1850’s to create the dress of the British Sepoys. 

For me it was just too slow and something too far away for me to empathize with. I liked the family based movies which Ray made as it had very strong characters, undercurrents and also a tale of the times in which they were made.

The above is a personal and probably a very narrow view. 

Here is a beautiful review of the movie by Bhaskar Chattopadhay who did a series on Ray movies  https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/shatranj-ke-khilari-satyajit-rays-commentary-on-the-systematic-atrocities-of-british-in-india-4226157.html 

Recently Suresh Jindal who was the producer of the movie has come out with a book on the making of Shatranj Ke Khilari. Some notes here https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/my-adventures-with-satyajit-ray-the-making-of-shatranj-ke-khilari-is-a-must-read-for-movie-lovers-4192423.html 

Day 14: 200 words/day challenge, 456 words

Meandering Thoughts on Life Lessons

What is a life well lived? As I finished listening to Mrinalji’s podcast and sort of tossed around her axioms and advice given by her mother this particular question came to my mind. 

A consistent theme throughout her life has been that of angst whether it is the choice her mother made, or the status of hindi media or the limited choices of women are given etc. From the outside I felt and she also accepted that she is a better person today having made peace with what she is now & what she could do with her life. She has an amazing body of work which she should be proud of. From a journalist to writer to TV personality to new media, you just get awed that she has done so much in 70’s & 80’ one of them incidentally is interviewing Rajiv Gandhi for a hindi newspaper.

What I was awestruck was the depth of her knowledge on HIndi literature, newspapers, magazines, mythology, folkakes, language and the role it plays in a society & how she connects all dots together, it was almost like a sketch as she is reading she is connecting a few more dots and it’s continuously evolving. I think that is one of the life lessons - What is your theme of life? 

The 2nd thing which I was stuck by was how both she and especially her mother accepted and went along with what life gave them but still never let go of what they both wanted to do. While her mother was more happy accepting it she channelised her anger into her work. Her mother came from a very rich family literally living in palaces, studied in Shantiniketan, was taught by Tagore himself and then got married to a widower and came to stay in a village with a brooding husband who already had a daughter. This was 1945 she was born in 19 46. But her acceptance was complete as she brought up 4 daughters travelling across Nainital, Almora, Delhi and other places. She continued writing contributing to magazines and then wrote novels which were published and one was also serialised. This is the 2nd life lesson of acceptance and going with the flow, not carrying any malice in your heart. Life will throw many curve balls, how does one continue playing & smiling?

There are 2 advice which her mom gave to be happy, While I will reproduce the exact quote in some time in essence what it means is

‘people are not bad they are born with some basic nature or circumstance make them bad so don’t have any resentment or bad feeling towards them’ 

‘Don’t accumulate,give away everything and just keep the basics, the more you accumulate, you will feel more miserable / get hurt.’

Day 13: 200 words/day challenge, 462 words

Photographic Memory

Do writers have photographic memory ? I just finished listening to exactly 1 hr of a monologue by Mrinal Pande, famous journalist, writer, who was the guest in the Seen & Unseen podcast. Luckily I had the luxury of listening to it with my headphones and gazing at the rolling clouds from my balcony in Bangalore & was undisturbed by phone calls.

As I heard Mrinal ji, I was transported to the times when she was born in 1946 and she recalled at the age of 1 refugees who were walking the streets of Delhi and how the word refugee was used as a play thing. Then as she moved from there to schooling in Nainital she recalled Miss West who was her teacher. 

She recalls how she heard of death for the first time when her grandfather died, how she was sent to the jungle and her aaya saw a dead pigeon and explained to her what death was. They buried the dead pigeon and put a cross on her graveyard and she was shocked to know that her grandfather will be burnt and not buried.

Names of publishers, what they said (verbatim quotes), description of objects including the color and texture of carpet, important dates with incidents. As I paused the podcast, the first thought which stuck me was her photographic memory, it was like a screenplay of a movie. I noticed a similar quality when I heard Amitava Kumar last week.

As I heard her I also realised that more than memory most of it were life learnings / meanings one would glean out of an incident as a child /teenager / adult and record them as as tapestry of one’s life, bookmarks which one would go back to when you are reassessing things or deciding or answering something your child has asked you.

The wife is one of the best storyteller in our family, just like Mrinal ji she would talk beautifully about her days in Durgapur, holidays in Kolkata - the sweets she liked or the death of her grandfather, many of it we have heard many times but we still cajole her to tell us.

Some time back I read an HBR article which suggested that one of the best ways to access your next step is to sit down in a garden / corner and answer the question ‘what’s your story ? I did that and quite enjoyed the process - many times on my business flight back home. I would just do that in my mind and I always come out with more clarity.

With Goa on the anvil & 2nd Innings not very far away, I am looking forward to a lot of storytelling on the beaches of Goa.

Day 12: 200 words/ day challenge; 455 words.

Movies from Iran

I had seen many international movies (read film festival types) in 2 amazing channels called Lumiere & World Movies, - these were pre internet days and these channels hosted director interviews, special screenings, director’s festivals or retrospective of a country or a phase of cinema like the French New wave. It was cinephiles' delight & most of my movie education happened through this. Now of course we have a mubi & criterion collection.

There are a handful of Iranian filmmakers whose movies I have seen, one is Jafar Panahi who is known for ‘The White Balloon’ which was his debut movie and won the Grand Prix in Cannes. The other director is Majid Majidi who is famous for ‘Children of Heaven’ - my recollection of both these movies were about the portrayal of daily life of lower middle class families in Iran. The family is just able to manage their livelihood but they still try their best to be happy and joyous and try to give the best upbringing possible for their children. But the family atmosphere is only set in the context - the main story is about the children, their wants or needs / dreams are explained through the eyes of an incident. The child actors are so natural with their acting - thanks to the director that it is a pure delight watching the story unfold. Both these films will give you a sense of innocence and purity which only children can evoke.I have seen many other movies made by them - but these 2 are masterpieces & must see.

The other director whose movies I saw because they won Oscars for best foreign language is 

Asghar Farhadi. Earlier I had seen Separation & Salesman and over the weekend I saw A Hero. Unlike Jafar Panahi & Majid Majidi - all 3 films are real portrayals of the society, it holds a mirror to the society on what they define as good / bad. It has much more angst & realism. The stories have many layers to it and it is difficult to predict the end outcome. Every person has so many shades that you will get engrossed if you enjoy family drama.

What I like about these movies is it gives a peek into life in Tehran or some other smaller town in Iran. Our knowledge about Iran is very peripheral - war ridden, fanatic, women not treated well and people don’t have freedom. All of it is true but then how does life go on in these countries, what does a family dream of here, how do they live together & celebrate things. It gives a glimpse of social fibre. I like their language (farsi or persian) which to me sounds very sweet and also they all come together during their meals - putting all their foods in the centre and sharing the food. It has a very nice celebratory feel to it.       

A Hero is in Amazon Prime, some qualified reviews below. 

https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/a-hero-movie-review-asghar-farhadi-delivers-a-tale-about-ethics-and-integrity-with-a-fairly-engaging-script-9804111.html 

https://scroll.in/reel/1021369/a-hero-review-an-astutely-observed-portrait-of-honesty-and-cynicism 

Day 11: 200 words/day challenge. 504 words.