KAHIHI

Just a few days before the Oscars, I watched “The Artist”, a movie that was much talked about. I was rather a little skeptical to watch it. However, a conversation with Bollywood enthusiast and a columnist urged me to finally book a ticket at a “not-so-good, not-so-bad” theatre in Pune. I wish I could have got to watch “The Artist” in Regal, Eros, Sterling, theatres where I have enjoyed most English classics.

I had had enough of Apes, Spider-men, Lord of Rings, all sorts of aliens attacking our planet, and many other specially-abled creatures with high visual-sound effects.

“The Artist” was a welcome change for my movie watching experience. Black-and-White and Silent, a courageous thing to do in the times of 3D-VFX etc. A wonderfully crafted movie at the able hands of writer-director Michel Hazanavicius, and effortlessly portrayed on screen by Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo. The movie is an exciting ride with classical imagery and impressive-inventive filmmaking techniques. It is packed with apt adroitness, euphonious background music, impressive acting with right coalescence of exactitude and melodramatic hyperbole.

In its most entireties, “The Artist” is a work of perfection that B/W hue can be experimented with. I watched the movie once again yesterday. This time, I was transported to the golden era of our black & white movies, when our industry was still known as Indian Cinema and not Bollywood. While I am in no power to draw parallels between “The Artist” and our times of B/W cinema, watching “The Artist” for the second time echoed “Pyaasa” and “Kagaz Ke Phool” all the while; the themes differ though, While Michel's creation has a comical-happy ending base, Guru Dutt movies were dark with tragic ending, but both the creations are equally iconic.

When I talk to some people I know about Guru Dutt movies, ridges of cynicism get etched on their forehead. They consider Dutt’s movies to be slow, melodramatic, and archaic much similar to the reputation that silent movies have. I have seen only few silent movies (including our very own "Raja Harishchandra") and found them to be lissome and amusing contrary to the belief about silent movies. Silent movies focused more on acting skills as evidently referenced in Sunset Boulevard, “We didn’t need dialogues, We have faces”. Filmmaking essentially is a means of communication, expressive means of narration using gestures and body language, when talkies was yet to be defined or rather technique to capture sound was to be devised. Cinema-men’s predicament could have been similar; they had ideas but no means (technically) to convey it. And then facial expressions, body movements, use of eyes was the resort to portray emotions on screen, which appealed to everyone universally, a language could still have been a barrier but emotions are same across the world – an upper curve of lips meant smile and downward meant a frown. Chaplin used this means effectively and to the optimum level, which makes him undisputed king of silent movies.

Guru Dutt has such a widespread that he could have effortlessly made silent movies had he been in those times and he could have masterminded an equally picturesque “The Artist” in today’s times.

This 84th Academy Award winning film shot in black-and-white, is a pleasing experimentation of lights and shadows, of which our own Guru Dutt has been a master. Guru Dutt, a perfectionist with extraordinary vision. Like “The Artist” where language is no barrier to understand, Dutt’s movies too appealed universally and are a subject of research studies till date. I have watched “Pyaasa” over 50 times and each time I have found something new in it. For e.g. when I watched “Pyaasa” recently, I noticed when Dutt stands at the doorway with a halo-like effect behind him, and his hands stretched holding the door frame, it almost resembles like Jesus on the cross; wherein to my understanding, it was like Vijay (the poet in “Pyaasa”) had been crucified by the immoral & selfish attitude of the society, and possibly enlightening the people that what you seek is not the ultimate thing at all through his ‘yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye toh kya hai’.

Like in “The Artist”, the reel hero (Valentin) and the real hero (director Michel Hazanavicius), concentrate on the form of art than the glamour, Guru Dutt too focused on the artistry and not on the success that is made of few awards or bunch of flowers, may be just like the “Kagaz Ke Phool”. Michel could have easily used the latest technology and effects to make a movie. But perhaps he wasn’t just making a movie, he was trying to make a difference. Much like what Guru Dutt tried to do at that time, when in the post-independence era Satyajit Raj was epitomizing poverty, Raj Kapoor was giving life to street characters of Mumbai, Bimal Roy was marching ahead with social issues, Mehboob Khan was glorifying romance-melodrama. And there was this Guru Dutt trying to differ by portraying a different point-of-view, nihilistic story telling. Dutt focused mostly on the hypocrisy of the society, the pseudo-morals they followed, and the exploitation of the underprivileged.

The poise of “The Artist” lies in the fact that though watching a silent, black-and-white movie, you are in no way conditioned to think that it is an old-fashioned ancient movie. Dutt’s movies had a similar virtuosity that effortlessly bestrode the demarcation between socio-contextual cinema and a form of prevalent movie without burdening the audience.

Dutt was gifted with great musical sense and he was a trained dancer too, which made his movies musically pleasing and aesthetic. He understood the depth of acting which made him a successful director who could make his actors emote naturally. Guru Dutt, a master of camera tactics, along with V. K. Murthy (the best cinematographer Indian Cinema has ever had), captured the best frames, they knew well when to take a long shot and when to capture the glitter in the eye (see Waheeda Rehman in Jaane Kya Tuney Kahi in “Pyaasa”).

“The Artist” a great collaborative effort by Michel Hazanavicius (writer-director), Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo (main leads), Ludovic Bource (music), Guillaume Schiffman (cinematographer), went on to sweep the Academy Awards. Well, a kind of magic that Guru Dutt, V K Murthy, Waheeda Rehman, Abrar Alvi, S D Burman, Sahir Ludhiyanvi created 50 years ago and they could have surely done that today as well with striking screenplay, particularized cinematography, and mellifluous dialogues.

His movies went to become cult classics, with “Pyaasa” and “Kagaz Ke Phool” enjoying the status of finest films ever made with a mention in the prestigious Time. Unfortunately, Guru Dutt could not live so long to see his days of glory, and witness the resonating impact his movies have on hearts & minds of many across the world, they have cult following in Germany, and France, from where comes “The Artist”.

- Redam

This oil painting on canvas, 4x5 feet, is inspired by an anatomy of the eye.

This is an abstract and not a medical illustration.

The left yellow suggests a lens.

The right layers of green, red and yellow represent the retina.

The black long structure at the right lower corner makes the optic nerve. 
The lens focusses the image on the retina.

The image is then carried by the optic nerve to the brain.

The brain tells you what you are seeing.

- Arun Dabholkar, Ph.D.
Dr. Dabholkar’s background is primarily in medical research.

I have loved Marathi culture and the Marathi art – literature, theatre, cinema, et al. However, lately I have ended up frustrated watching Bharat Jadhav, Makarand Anaspure movies. PuLa’s humour of yesteryears still makes me laugh but no art form of recent times has brought a smile to me. A judge on Fu Bai Fu becomes a participant in an equally pathetic show on Sony TV. A Marathi film title sounds like a latest Salman’s hit movie. The titles of Marathi dramas have no head or tail – “Chehra Feri” etc.
Where has that glory gone? Where has that creativity vanished that once ruled the art domain?
While oscillating between such discouraging thoughts and browsing through likewise irritating TV channels, I took a halt at Nikhil Wagle’s interview show – “Great Bhet” on IBN Lokmat. Wagle was interviewing Abhinay Deo.
I had heard about Abhinay for his Delhi Belly and Game, both movies released this year. I never got to read or watch anything in-depth about Abhinay though. Wagle’s program did the needful but not totally satisfying.
A sigh of relief. I could see a possible revival of Marathi art in Abhinay Deo, who had done ad films for over decade, award winning ones. Other such Marathi adman I can think of is Bharat Dabholkar, both fall in different leagues though.
In the interview with Wagle, Abhinay candidly mentioned that one thing which he will never do is “mediocrity”, which also can perhaps be interpreted that he will not do anything that the current Marathi creative lot is doing and boasting about – he was point blank in his remark. Deo also stated that when he wanted to join films, he did not want to be a part of the then pathetic state of cinema with movies like Jadugar, Toofan were bombing at the box-office. He made a right move and turned towards to ads to harness his creative and storytelling skills.
And he made an entry when the time was right, when the audience had matured.
Abhinay gave us movies like Delhi Belly and Game. Though Game released on April 2011, Delhi Belly is Deo’s debut feature film, which Aamir had offered to him 4 years ago. Delhi Belly was slated as a dirty, shitty, unnecessary humour, however, Deo clarifies that “Even the gaali-galoch has its own reasoning in the film. There’s a certain way in which the youth of today talks and we can’t refute it.”  The filmmaking is perfect, which possibly only an ad-maker can envision. Personally, I enjoyed the movie, I loved it. I was curious to learn more about Abhinay Deo ever since I watched Delhi Belly, a movie that requires courage to be made in India.
I watched the entire interview. Wagle, as usual, was engaged in unnecessary questions, much alike what an average Marathi mind thinks and operates today. Wagle did not mention about his other movie, Game, a stylish action thriller, which is a Hollywood treat, a fast paced movie, likable despite having Abhishek Bachchan in it. I enjoyed Deo’s this movie as well.
However, Wagle’s myopic view about person’s ability could not see beyond asking personal questions to Abhinay.
Abhinay’s allusion about mediocrity was towards the end of the interview; else it could have given Wagle few cues about what exactly to ask Deo, a person of such a high creative stature.