Paa the movie, and how Bollywood uses modern medical science.

Paa is a movie which I saw with avid interest after a long long while. Admittedly, there have been more of such movies in recent years, but this one deserves a blog all it's own! First of all, it gave a golden opportunity to AB to get out of his persona and get into the skin of a character completely alien to himself. And he gives a convincing, and moving performance. And all that without the usual Bollywood sentimental trash or hyperbole.

He underplays the character wonderfully, and does not mouth any weighty dialogues; in fact, the most pontifical statement in the movie is not delivered by him, but by a 9-10 year old girl who he has been avoiding throughout the movie. He comes across as an elderly person with a curious mix of the juvenile as well as the wise; the movie is worth seeing simply to experience this kind of unworldly character. 

But then, PROGERIA IS one of the most exotic diseases you can ever imagine! Here are some real-life pictures of children with progeria. 

Here is a link to a website which gives some information on this disease.

Apparently, Paa is inspired by a Hollywood movie (The curious case of Benjamin Button) but I haven't yet seen it; will do that and upgrade this post.

For a change, Bollywood story-tellers take a rare disease entity like that, and still make a good use of it, since 'use' means they should entertain you and at the same time give you an emotional rush. There they succeed like nothing else has in Bollywood in a long, long time. I felt something like this with Jab We Met, but this was better.

There are times when the character takes a little backseat, and the AB persona comes out; this is evident in the comfort he feels with the 'Security Staff' with whom he does a few high-fives. It is the AB persona they are reacting to, and not the exotic character in the movie, and those scenes are a dead giveaway. But I don't know of any actor in Bollywood who has ever been able to completely shed his or her personality, not even Sanjeev Kumar and Kamalhassan, though those two are arguably the best actors we ever had, but that may be too rigorous a standard! AB is an actor par excellence, and this movie showcases that like few others in the past (especially when you recall those dreadful 80s movies like Shahenshah and Mard).Powered by Qumana

PAA the movie

Paa is a movie after a long long while which I saw with avid interest. Admittedly, there have been more of such movies in recent years, but this one deserves a blog all it's own! First of all, it gave a golden opportunity for AB to get out of his persona and get into the skin of a character completely alien to himself. And he gives a convincing, and moving performance. And all that without the usual Bollywood sentimental trash or hyperbole. He underplays the character wonderfully, and does not mouth any weighty dialogues; in fact the most pontifical statement in the movie is not delivered by him, but by a 9-10 year old girl who he has been avoiding throughout the movie. He comes across as an elderly person with a curious mix of the juvenile as well as the wise; the movie is worth seeing simply to experience this kind of unworldly character. But then, progeria IS one of the most exotic diseases you can ever imagine! For a change, Bollywood story-tellers take a rare disease entity like that, and still make a good use of it, since 'use' here means they should entertain you and at the same time give you an emotional rush. There they succedd like nothing else has in Bollywood in a long, long time. I felt something like this with JAb We Met, but this was better.
There are times in the movie when the character takes a little backseat, and the AB persona comes out; this is evident in the comfort he feels with the 'Security Staff' with whom he does a few high-fives. It is the AB persona they are reacting to, and not the exotic character in the movie, and those scenes are a dead giveaway. But I don't know of any actor in Bollywood who has ever been able to completely shed his or her personality, not even Sanjeev Kumar and Kamalhassan, arguably the best actors Bollywood has produced; I guess that may be too rigorous a standard! AB is an actor par excellence, and this movie showcases that like few others in the past (especially when you recall those dreadful 80s movies like Shahenshah and Mard).

The Modern Buddha

If you've read today's newspaper, you will have read about the oath-taking ceremony of the WB CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Having spent a major part of my formative years in the stronghold of the Left parties in India, you can say that I have a certain affinity to issues related to WB; at the very least, I have an opinion on them.
While there, I always cursed the government for the appaling state of affairs in Kolkata. I hated everything Left, and to this day believe that the communist ideology of these parties is at best posturing, and at the worst, hypocrisy. Because I believe that we are all, at heart, capitalists and votaries of the free market. Because we are a poor nation, we are composed of a large size of population who are workers, so we have to espouse their cause by calling ourselves Communists. Recent events seem to support my viewpoint.
Buddha has steered WB towards the mainstream. I believe he has been quoted to have said that WB, being one among 28 other states, cannot be a socialist island, and that we are all capitalists.
To my die-hard communist comrades I would like to say this: the days of idealism-mongering (to coin a phrase) are well and truly over; in the decades before WWII, in the days of Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, George Orwell and others of their ilk, the world was obsessed with various isms. There were fierce debates on which ideology was best suited for us. Even in the seventies, our communist brethren were still concerning themselves with non-issues like these. My suggestion to them is, do this during spare-time. There is no time and money to spare on idle thought.
A large part of the world is starving; there is injustice, corruption, and decadence. Work to build the nation; forget about ideologies. Posterity will decided which ism you belonged to; history will document the net effect of your actions. Will you allow your descendants to accuse you of inaction?
Buddha has proved that he is a man of action, who believes that his deeds speak better than his words. His is an example to follow; finally Bengal is in the path to development, something in which it has been languishing for decades. Here is the chance to restore it to the pristine glory it once had. Hail Comrade!

MANDAL REVISITED

The whole of northern India is up in flames....it is Mandal 1989-90 revisited....the spectre of MANDAL II....In 1989 it was VP Singh.....the flames engulfed him then, they finished him politically...the villain of the piece now is ARJUN SINGH!This man was considered prime ministerial material at one time....now he is a doddering old fool, stumbling through the corridors of power, dragging his legs with his stick, cynically using the power vested in him by trusting millions, to further the sinister cause of all political parties....VOTES!VOTES!!Votes at any cost, even if it destroys the lives of the youth!!!He had the temerity to stand in LOK SABHA and proclaim that he was not going to back out of this decision....this arrogance and stubborness is because he has won the elections....we would like to know, did the people who voted from him, do they all want him to do things this way ?We thought India had come a long way...away from the divisive politics of the past generations....we believed that a new generation had arisen, new leaders with vision and hope, who wanted all Indians to be equal...Yes, we thought the days of Rahuls and Jyotiradityas and Jindals had dawned and that we would see a new and progressive INDIA!But alas! It seems that we were too credulous, that we have been belied again.For Arjun Singh alone would not have dared to stand against the rising tide of protesters in the country..... not unless he had the backing of all these self-serving politicians...The time has come to change the culture of the country.....to create an atmosphere where such politicians cannot breathe....where corruption, divisiveness, nepotism, cronyism cannot survive...For this we have to carry the poor and the downtrodden with us...we have to convince all those people who vote for these politicians that there are better options. We have to create a climate for nation building...We have to show these cynical politicians that their days are numbered, that the time has come to account for their actions.Now no political decision should be taken with the vote-bank in mind...everything should be pre-decided through fora comprising the intellectuals and progressive minds in the society. Deviations from these policies should be dealt with firmly by the law-enforcement agencies....the power in the hands of these politicians has to be severely curbed, so much so that it no longer remains lucrative to enter politics.Let only those interested n building the nation enter politics; for this, all priveleges should be withdrawn.

MANDAL REVISITED

The whole of northern India is up in flames....it is Mandal 1989-90 revisited....the spectre of MANDAL II....In 1989 it was VP Singh.....the flames engulfed him then, they finished him politically...the villain of the piece now is ARJUN SINGH!This man was considered prime ministerial material at one time....now he is a doddering old fool, stumbling through the corridors of power, dragging his legs with his stick, cynically using the power vested in him by trusting millions, to further the sinister cause of all political parties....VOTES!VOTES!!Votes at any cost, even if it destroys the lives of the youth!!!He had the temerity to stand in LOK SABHA and proclaim that he was not going to back out of this decision....this arrogance and stubborness is because he has won the elections....we would like to know, did the people who voted from him, do they all want him to do things this way ?We thought India had come a long way...away from the divisive politics of the past generations....we believed that a new generation had arisen, new leaders with vision and hope, who wanted all Indians to be equal...Yes, we thought the days of Rahuls and Jyotiradityas and Jindals had dawned and that we would see a new and progressive INDIA!But alas! It seems that we were too credulous, that we have been belied again.For Arjun Singh alone would not have dared to stand against the rising tide of protesters in the country..... not unless he had the backing of all these self-serving politicians...The time has come to change the culture of the country.....to create an atmosphere where such politicians cannot breathe....where corruption, divisiveness, nepotism, cronyism cannot survive...For this we have to carry the poor and the downtrodden with us...we have to convince all those people who vote for these politicians that there are better options. We have to create a climate for nation building...We have to show these cynical politicians that their days are numbered, that the time has come to account for their actions.Now no political decision should be taken with the vote-bank in mind...everything should be pre-decided through fora comprising the intellectuals and progressive minds in the society. Deviations from these policies should be dealt with firmly by the law-enforcement agencies....the power in the hands of these politicians has to be severely curbed, so much so that it no longer remains lucrative to enter politics.Let only those interested n building the nation enter politics; for this, all priveleges should be withdrawn.

NRI Blues

NRIs are flooding the market, and now they are a dime a dozen. Most of them have learnt their spoken English there (having learnt only a bookish-sort of reading English during schooling) and so end up having horribly put-on American twangs that sound as phoney as an ass's singing voice. It'd all appear harmless, as the Hindi-movie caricature of the NRI-bufoon who gets ribbed by the REAL hero, and who always loses in the love-tangle, would suggest, if it were not for a few specimen who really make your blood boil. Most NRIs are enchanted by the land of milk and honey they have seen there, but forget that they can't really expect the same thing here. Most of them probably haven't seen the medical scene there, so they don't realise how difficult it is to walk into a doctor's chamber there, much less start demanding things! They don't realise how defensive they are over there; I have had NRIs praising me for my approachability, for my straight-forwardness, and willingness to explain things.They are simply traits we haven't managed to lose yet!Of course many NRIs are sweet-natured, polite, decent and well-behaved, but of recent one notices that such specimen are few and far in-between!We had an especially obnoxious piece they sent over from the UK (couldn't keep him longer there, I gather); this guy delivers his vicious monologue on sweet-tempered elderly spinsters who believe in turning the other cheek, and makes a quick getaway when he so much as hears a footfall. He should by now be keeping his ears cocked for a heavier footfall or the sound of a club cracking his skull open.