Sunday, March 29, 2009

Three Cups of Tea

Mortenson's "3 cups of tea" is a marvel. Though it is written as a novel, it is an actual account of Greg Mortenson's journey through the years, ever since he made a promise to the village headman of a small, impoverished and remote village in the unforgiving altitudes near the Himalayas in Pakistan. That was a promise to build a school for Korphe's children. Mortenson was reeling at the time from a failed attempt to climb K2 and as fate may have it, wandered lost and disillusioned into this village. Here he was taken care of by the people and especially its headman, Haji Ali.

Mortenson has been declared as "An American Hero" by many. I'm not sure about the American part of it, but he definitely is a hero. At a time when Americans were treated with fear and hostility in that part of the world, this is a person who has made it a virtual second home, with his tireless dedication to the cause. A cause which ultimately is as powerful an attempt to curb the growth of religious extremists in the region as any war waged. A large proportion of the kids who join extremist groups end up doing so because of a lack of alternatives. A lack of an alternative to studying in an extremist madrassa. Or to joining fundamentalist groups thereafter. Mortenson’s schools give these kids in areas that are far beyond the reach of their countries' governments, a chance to a normal education, especially the girls. And he comes across as an unbiased citizen of the world, who tries to clear up a lot of misconceptions people, especially Americans, may have had about Muslims since 9/11.

The book takes us from his arduous journey building one school, to finding his network of support in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as the US, to building hundreds of schools in the area. There is a part where he goes into the heart of the Wazir tribes villages, and how he gets locked up for sometime, before they let him go, and of how, plenty of so called conservative mullahs become vocal supporters of his cause for education of their children, especially the girls.

The books tagline says "One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time". There could not be a more fitting title. At a time when the world is reeling under the effects of terror in various forms, this is an inspiring account which can restore faith in the power of goodness. I would suggest everyone to get a copy of this one or at least check out their website at: http://www.threecupsoftea.com/

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Hard Rock in Pune

Finally got a chance to drop into the Hard Rock Cafe in Pune today with the two "Su" gals.. Sushi and Suzy :) ... Got to admit, i was blown away by the decor and the ambience. Been hearin bout Hard Rock for a long time now, and since its finally come to Pune, we had to check it out. Loved the interiors and the music. And that add on.. When the waiters (and one very sexy lady) got on the bar and all danced to a tune. I guess all you can say is.. Rock On!

An Ode to Malayalam Cinema

I saw a couple of movies in the last few days which made me feel maybe, just maybe, there is still hope left for Malayalam cinema. Once the pantheon of path breaking and intelligent cinema made on shoestring budgets with fantastic actors, Malayalam cinema since the turn of the century is a sorry shadow of its former self. These days a true fan finds it hard to find a few meaningful and worthwhile movies every year. While Bollywood seems to be moving in the right direction with its new breed of filmmakers and actors, Malayalam cinema seems to have moven in the opposite direction. This may be because of the demise of such great auteurs as Padmarajan, Bharathan etc, as well as the slow corrosion of cinema of the neighbouring states, including the superstar culture. While Mohanlal is one of the finest actors i have ever seen, the number of worthy movies he has done in the last ten years are very few and far between. Ditto for Suresh Gopi. Mamooty might have fared a bit better.

Coming to the movies that I saw, the first was "Thirakatha" (Screenplay). The story was that of a young filmmaker who wanted to make a movie on the life of a yesteryear starlet and her relation at the time with a current reigning superstar. The subject was an intriguing one for the protagonist, as the starlet faded away as swiftly as she came to the limelight, and no one seemed to know of her whereabouts. The main protagonist was played by Prithviraj, who in my opinion is a brilliant young actor, and who seems to genuinely want to do good cinema, rather thn cashing in on crass starry roles. The starlet and her lover were played by Priya Mani and Anoop Chandran, both brilliantly. While this one atleast got a decent run in cinema's in Kerala (probably because of the popularity of its director, the gifted Ranjith), the next one I saw probably hardly saw the light of the day in the state.

This one was called "Sanchaaram" (The Journey) and was the story of two adolescent girls in a village in Kerala. After being together since childhood, they realise that they have feelings for each other. How they and others around them in conservative Kerala society deal with this forms the rest of the story. I felt it beautifully evoked the alternative sexuality the girls had to come to terms to and captured their angst, as compared to certain overhyped Hollywood productions ("Brokeback Mountain", "Milk") on the same. Those movies to me seemed to give way too much preference to the sex and physicality between the characters rather than their feelings. The director, writer and producer of ths film, Ligy J. Pullappally, supposedly came across the story after she heard of two girls in Kerala who wanted to kill themselves because society wouldn't let them be who they were. In her own words: "On January 25, 2000 I received an email about a young woman at a university in the South Indian state of Kerala. She and her girlfriend had fled the school, presumably under the threat of expulsion as a result of the rumors of their love affair with each other. The women were recovered and sent back to their respective families. The next day, one of the young women’s body was found floating in the reservoir of a dam. It was a tragic loss of young life and potential, a suicide. It was, I would learn, an all too familiar circumstance in the South Indian state of Kerala." This was a beautiful movie which i feel, sadly, a large section of the movie going public wouldn't have seen.

Maybe there still is hope for the lover of the Malayalam cinema of yore.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Firaaq

I think I'm in love. With Nandita Das. Of course, her choices in her acting career have never been anything but exemplary, so I was expecting her maiden directorial venture, Firaaq, to be good atleast. But i was unprepared for the extent to which i was moved by this moving tapestry of a few lives after the Gujarat riots.
Inevitably, there will be the usual community lovers who will cry out without even watching the movi of how these movies only show one side of the story or only the suffering suffered by one community. I loved the response she had for one of those. "I'm not pro-Muslim, I'm pro-humanity'. It expressed the sentiment throughout the movie beautifully. Or how she responded to Modi's response to have a 'special' screening of the movie by retorting that the movie has been released, he can go watch it.
The film is helped in a large measure by the amazingly talented ensemble of actors, the more famous of them being Naseerudin Shah, Sanjay Suri (a very under rated actor in my opinion), Deepti Naval, Paresh Rawal and Shahana Goswami (of Rock On fame).
Incidentally, i went to watch the movie with Af, a pal who follows Islam, but who i found to be more liberal and openminded than most others i know. A fitting response to all those prejudiced and so called educated fools out there.

Heck, i sure hope she keeps making movies more often.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

See no evil

There is a criminal trial going on in Austria right now which is grabbing a lot of headlines both for the sensational nature of its trial and the gruesomeness of the actual crime itself. I came across an in depth article of the crime at the link below, and I was gripped with a sense of utter despondency while reading its description:
http://www.hotklix.com/?ref=link/484439

Although I have been confronted with the concept of what I thought was pure evil before, this was the most recent one which I came across. I always wonder.. to what extent are we capable of cruelty to another person? Examples I have heard and read of seems to point to a limitless capability for the same. And you cant help wondering... can anyone be driven to that extent by their inner demons and desires?

Monday, March 16, 2009

Cafe Leo's

Dropped into Leopold's the other day with one of my fave partners in crime, Ar S. I was in Mumbai to see my parents and sis off, and once done, i figured its time i visited this place i'v heard a lot about. Since AS is still recovering from a bad accident, we had to take the long taxi trip from Goregaon to Colaba, though it did provide us a good view of Mumbai from one end to another. Considering that i have been wanting to visit the place ever since i fell in love with "Shantaram" and its characters, when we did finally zero in on the place, it was a bit surprising. It looked like an innocuous enough place. The place had become more famous recently in the light of the recent terror attacks in Mumbai (there are a couple of bullet holes still preserved in the glass). However, the place was thronging with foreigners and Indians alike. I guess that is the one of the best responses that people can give... "cant scare us off".


Anywayz... we stayed there for a while before we decided to get off and hit one of our favourite sheesha joints for a puff. Considering it was his recovery period, he wasnt really supposed to have anythin to drink.. but what the hell.. we had finally come to Leopolds, so we ordered a couple of Becks'. The whole time i was there i kept imagining i could see Gregory David Roberts and his pals discussing life, love and other philosophies on one of the tables, but i guess i was letting my imagination run away a bit there.


So thats another spot added to my list of fave hotel getaways in Mumbai and Pune.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Benjamin's Button


I wasn't too impressed with the movie. It was too long and too boring, to put it bluntly. At no point could I really connect with the character and Brad Pitt, though a good actor, was too wooden in this movie. It's too bad David Fincher almost won an Oscar for this movie, considering he has made some gems in the past, including the underrated 'Zodiac' from 2007.

One aspect of the movie critics seemed to be harping on about was supposedly the amazing chemistry between Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. And one picture I saw the other day from the movie really made me believe it. The one above... The way they are standing in front of the mirror with Cate's reflection looking back at the real life Pitt, made it look amazing.
Unfortunately, in the movie itself, the chemistry was hardly there, and the scene shown above was hardly noticable. The movie ended up (for me) looking like a wannabe 'Forrest Gump'.
Thank God it only won the Oscars which it really deserved, for art direction and makeup.