The Shining

I have been a fan of the legendary Stanley Kubrick ever since I saw his disturbing "The Clockwork Orange". I know it sounds oxymoronic to say that I am a big fan of a film maker whose film "The Clockwork Orange" disturbed and even disoriented me. A story of what a dysfunctional society can do to its youngsters - it was so unsettling that I don't think I can ever muster the courage to watch it again. Therein lies the strength of all Kubrick movies - the leisurely pace at which the story unfolds, the orchestrated music that continuously plays in the background, the amazing camerawork, the "whats the fuss all about" kind of acting style, the unexpected twists in the plot that hit you like a thunderbolt, the "tell it all in the face" kind of narrative style - all combine to ensure a compelling movie watching experience.

I recently got hold one of Kubrick's all time popular movies - "The Shining" (incidentally this movie was voted as the scariest movie of all times in a recent poll) I was both apprehensive and skeptical at the same time - apprehensive because I was sure I would be in for a relentlessly unsettling movie experience (as is the case with all Kubrick movies) and skeptical because I cannot think anyone can make a better horror movie than the Gregory Peck starrer "The Omen". But boy I was wrong......I was literally glued to my seat for the entire duration of the movie......It was a very "claustrophobic" cinematic experience - the tension was unrelenting, the trademark orchestrated background score was teasingly building up an atmosphere of impending doom, the twists in the story began to unleash themselves at the most unexpected junctures.........phew!!

Very few people have banished the stereotypes of the "horror" genre the way Kubrick has done in "Shining". Very little blood, no gore, no awful looking computer generated ghosts........the tension and thrill lay in the plot, the performances and of course the cold direction of the master craftsman. The plot of the "The Shining" revolves around Jack Nicholson (in one of his best performances) moving into a secluded and opulent-looking hotel with his family, as its new caretaker. Jack's predecessor as we come to know had butchered his family and had also killed himself. As the movie progresses, we sense a gradual degradation in the mental state of Jack and as he is driven to repeat the atrocity committed by his predecessor, the only thing that can save the day for Jack's family is the unique telepathic power called "Shining" possessed by his little son.

Anyway a Stanley Kubric movie is not everyone's cup of tea - many might be put off by its excruciatingly slow pace and the water-tight atmosphere it builds up - but nevertheless you will be taken aback by the sheer audacity and technique of the late master film-maker.

Ready for a long haul!!

Ages have passed since my last post here........hence I had to summon all the will power at my disposal to shake off that last ounce of lethargy that was holding me back from getting back to blogging. A lot of water has flown under the bridge since that last post of mine -( from the 123 Nuclear deal to the exciting 20-20 world cup)...........so there must be no dearth of issues to ponder upon. On the personal front , though life is far from being called 'interesting', some interesting perspectives have begun to emerge...............

All about this and more in the forthcoming posts.................

Adieu Spider man !!

Breaking News!!

The fourth installment of Spiderman will be scripted by the writer of this blog. The rumor(of course started by this author himself) has it that it will be the story of young man who inherits his father's powers......oops.......sorry that was inadvertently plagiariased from an Indian masterpiece 'Krish' (which of course this author sat through five times - each time until the interval only).............

Phew........shocking (or disgusting) as the above piece of news might seem to the reader, exactly the same kind of feeling was invading me as I sat in the darkness watching my favourite superhero (I'm being a little hypocritical, Rajinikanth shall always remain my all time favourite super hero) crumble into a heap of disappointment even as the villain of the piece 'Sandman' literally crumbled in a mountain of sand. A successful franchise, an endearing super-hero, a massive budget, maniacal hype - in spite of all this what went wrong?

1) First of all, the action scenes were very very few(quite evident from the restlessness of the kids who were seated in the row front of mine)................Whatever may be the excuse, definitely no one goes to a super hero movie to watch endless bantering and emotional kitsch (I think watching any of the 'K' (or 'Kk'......im not sure) serials would gratify the emotional needs of the viewer)
2) Weak villains are to a super hero movie what a fully clothed heroine is to a Bollywood movie ( a sure recipe to disaster!!). Sandman and Crapman( sorry can't remember the other villain's name) are possibly the weakest villains in recent movie history (possibly the previous one was Vivek Oberoi in 'Kisna'........definition of a villian is slightly altered in this case as there came a stage in that classic when I was rooting for the villain to escape with the heroine!!)
3) Story(or atleast something like it) is needed even for Spidey. Not that I went into the hall expecting a pulsating story with a shocking twist in the end (who knows had our own Night Shyamalan directed Spidey.....in the end it might have been revealed that Spidey was actually a ghost) but atleast you need a basic story to tell even in a super hero movie (now don't tell me Sunny Deol movies have a story)
4) Now Sam Raimi(the director) needs to move on. No I didn't mean he has to get back to make the fifth(or sixth?) installment of that amazing movie 'Evil Dead' (one of those classic movies I grew up watching......). Sam Raimi remained an icon in my view until I saw that iconic horror movie 'Kuch kuch hota hai'...............Anyway simply put Mr.Raimi move away from Spidey.........Harry Potter is waiting for you............
5) Now what needs to be done if Spidey 4 has to be made is to replace the old Tobey Maguire with a young George Clooney and replace the irritable Kirsten Dunst with the beautiful Meryl Streep. Of course the director of my choice would be Christopher Nolan(remember Memento??)

But the only problem is that all his movies begin with the climax (maybe in Spidey 4, Spidey would kill the villain in the first scene and the movie moves backwards from there on..........)
Well at the end of it all, the moral of the story is never watch the third part of any successful movie franchise (remember Terminator 3,Batman 3..........) with the exception of Pirates 3 (can't help this I'm very partial to Johnny Depp movies)..............................

The 'writing' is on the wall!!

During the brief course of my 'literary' adventures(or misadventures) aka writing, I have dished out a few short stories (some very banal and some reasonable). At times I have even tried writing critical essays which mostly have gone unnoticed. So even though I might be severely under-qualified, I still think I could pass a comment or two about writing.

Often I get asked where does the 'idea' for a story originate from - is it from life or movies or books or something else. An idea for a story lies all around us - it only needs to be tapped and more importantly noticed. Once the idea is sown in your mind, a logical narrative needs to build it up(sometimes the most difficult thing to do!!). One thing which I have observed over a period of time, is that people always love that 'twist in the tale' - the 'X' factor which keeps them guessing. Well the idea of holding the readers on tenterhooks might be exciting to any writer but the truth is managing to deliver that knockout punch in the end without falling into the pit of illogicality. The thing is sometimes you need to tread the middle path - keep it reasonable (rather believable) but still deliver that twist abeit with lesser impact. I do admit I have a couple of times tried to play to the gallery by forcefully inducing twists even when it was unwarranted. When things are forced, you know it is not going to work.

Ok now where is this discussion heading to? Frankly nowhere..............but somewhere I realise the process of writing should become self reliant i.e. you write because to honestly want to tell a story and not to keep the readers happy or any other reason. When you honestly tell a tale, you don't need to play to the gallery because the process is complete in itself - you don't need the readers to complete the process. The readers are like the last link in the chain - not essentially the propellers of the process. The propeller is the passion and excitement that a new idea can usher in. Afterall the great stories captured on celluloid or in books, were never crafted with pretensions or just for the heck of it - they are what they are because all of them had a genuine story to tell....................

With this I come to the end of this post. I am, keeping the spirit of this post in mind, will sign off with a simple bye and restrain myself from making any sweeping concluding statements. (what the heck again I am playing to the gallery...............)

Shall we tell the president??

First of all, I am not alluding to the Jeffrey Archer novel...................

For the last couple of weeks, I have been noticing a certain campaign being carried out in the media about the forthcoming election to the post of the 'President of India'. In fact a few mails that were being circulated, urged the reader to support the cause of reinstating the current President for a second term. The funny part was a few TV channels ran a morning -till-night poll where the viewers could sms their votes. And the candidates in the fray were a filmstar, a technocrat, a couple of well known statesmen and the current President himself. Though these exercises are commonplace, most of know that the President of our country is elected by the political parties and not directly by the people. Moreover the post of the President in our country is merely a constitutional requirement rather than anything else. Though people like Dr Abdul Kalam have tried to usher in some positive changes while at the 'esteemed' office, the post of the President largely remains a 'figure head'. The head of the constitution (also the head of the Armed forces) ironically is powerless when it comes taking decisions about polilty. I frankly feel it would make more sense if the President can be bestowed with more powers or if not possible why not do away with the post itself?

Well I know this is not the most urgent issue facing the nation but I think its time we do away with defunct positions and starting looking at things more in the sense of what is needed and what is not.........................

I start all over again!!

Here it is I am back to blogging.........Well 'blogging' has been such a favourite past time of mine that I genuinely forgot both my login name and password when I tried to log into my account after the gap of nearly one year. As a result of that, I now have to resume blogging with a brand new account and a lot of issues (or non-issues) to broach upon. Looks like I am due for a longer innings this time as compared to my previous tenure..............In a tradition that is so very typical of me........I start all over again................