I had not heard of this movie before coming across it on Youtube possibly because I am not a big movie buff and partly because I don't remember it being released in mainstream cinema. However, the National Award Winning Film 'Memories in March' directed by Sanjoy Nag is an absolute delight.
The film follows the story of a heart-broken mother (played by Deepti Naval) who goes to Kolkata to complete the last rites of her son, Siddharth who died in a car accident under the influence of alcohol. She is received at the airport by his friends from his office and taken to the crematorium. She has many questions, disbelief and grief but she copes up with all this with extraordinary courage and grace. Thus starts her journey into the world of her son, a world that is full of dark secrets and revelations that she had never imagined existed. In the background, you sometimes hear her son's narration of the emails he shared with her and her own quest to find out the truth and come to terms with it.
The creative director, Arnab (played by Rituparno Ghosh)of her son's office and Shahana Choudhary (played by Raima Sen), the art director both play a very important role in the film as Siddharth' friends and colleagues and help Arti (Deepti Naval) discover her son all over again after his death.
Arti enters her son's house for the first time after his death to collect his closest belongings and take them with her to Delhi as his last memories. She is assisted in this by Shahana who patiently helps her arrange for the search, guides her around the house and gets food packed for her. Arnab too takes care of Arti by making sure that there is a driver at her disposal whenever she needs to travel. The twist arrives when Arti decides to visit the office to complete some formalities and expresses her wish to take back her son's belongings from his desk which includes a picture of herself. This simple request is met with discomfort and hesitation by Arnab, and she loses her temper. That is when the revelation is first dawned upon her by Shahana. Her son was gay and was in a homosexual relationship with Arnab.
The world that she had built around her son, her thoughts about him come crashing down and she refuses to come to terms with it. But unlike most Bollywood masala films, this topic is dealt with utmost grace and respect in this film without a hint of melodrama. She does accuse Arnab of 'seducing' her son and gets into an altercation with him only to later read a text in Siddharth's phone that he had drafted weeks ago on his phone but never gathered the courage to send it to his mother. The film follows Arti's acceptance of Siddharth's preferences and her friendship with Arnab, the acceptance of an issue with much courage and understanding.
The film is not preachy and it does not humour homosexuality. It is one of those very subtle renditions of a topic many of us still refuse to come to terms with even in educated households. Legalisation of homosexuality in India is only a small step, the acceptance in our society is a much bigger challenge. The film beautifully captures this message without going over the top.
Deepti Naval is wonderful in her portrayal of a stoic mother from an educated background who manages to shatter her boundaries and look at her son's point of view rather than blatantly refuse it. Rituparno Ghosh is convincing as ever in his portrayal of Arnab da, a character who wishes to be set free and hates the world to be caged. Raima Sen too, has done an amazing job in her portrayal of Shahana, who was once madly in love with Siddharth before she realised he was gay.
Its one of the best movies I have seen in the last couple of years and it has restored my belief that Indian cinema has a future and that we too can make films with popular appeal which are full of substance. That is how one good movie can overshadow the thousands of nonsensical films that are fed to the unassuming public each week. I don't understand whether its the public whose tastes are not yet mature enough to see this kind of cinema or is it the filmakers who are just worried about their boxoffice collections.
In any case, I don't think anyone should miss out this movie. And you can watch it in 1 hour 38 minutes on Youtube in your home. Please do.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
The Last Lecture
Its been a year since I signed up for this blog but my first post comes only today. I created this blog to be able to share my opinions about the books I have read that have touched my life and given me a new perspective, sometimes just something to ponder about, and sometimes to disagree, discuss and debate.
I read this particular book 'The Last Lecture' by Randy Pausch under extraordinary circumstances. A few days back, early in the morning, before leaving for work, I got the news of the demise of my beloved grandmother and was utterly shattered. I rushed to the airport to take a flight back to Delhi to be with my family and while at the airport, I bought this book to keep me occupied for the next two hours and to ease the stress that i was under. Turns out, that I unknowingly made a very good decision.
I had heard about this book from a couple of friends and knew that it is about a Professor who is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has only a couple of months to live. He decides to give the last lecture to his students, a medium that he undertakes to acknowledge the wisdom he has accomplished over the years and to say a final goodbye. As it turns out, The Last Lecture is not about virtual reality, a subject he has taught through the years, but on his life and how he achieved his dreams.
Very few people in this world can face death with courage and accept the fate that lies ahead. The grief of not being able to be with your family and cherish moments that everyone plans for in life, can totally devastate an individual. There are two ways to respond to this scenario; one is to resign to your fate and feel sorry for yourself and for your loved ones, the second is to pick up the pieces, be there for your family in the time that is left, plan for them and make sure that they can live comfortably without you in years to come. Randy chose the second way and showed extraordinary courage and determination to make things better for his family.
At the time of his diagnosis, Randy was 40 years old and with three small kids aged sons Dylan and Logan aged 5, 3 and daughter Chloe aged 18 months. When he and his wife realized that he is suffering from terminal cancer and has a couple of months to live, they decided to visit a family psychiatrist to counsel them through these tough times. Randy was heart-broken that he would not be there for his kids through their growing years, there was so much that he had planned to teach them. He decided that he would record his life's learning through 'the last lecture' that he delivers at Carnegie Melon University where he was a Professor.
The book follows the story of his childhood through the years till he completed his Phd. He describes each of the important learning of his life that he gained over the years with the help of his family and on the strength of his determination. In a very light and humorous manner he describes how he was awed when he first visited Disneyland with his family, mother, father and elder sister. He was so impressed with the magnificence of the place that he decided to become a 'Disney Imagineer' so that one day he could be one of the engineers behind the rides at the park. Since then, each step that he took, he had this goal in his subconscious. And one day, he actually got an offer to go to Disneyland on a sabbatical and make his dream come true where he pioneered the non-profit Alice Project. Similarly, while growing up, the World Encyclopedias had been a constant source of information for him and he had always wondered if he could be someone who actually wrote an article for one of the edition. He was so dedicated in his work, that one day, he finally did get a call from their office to write an article on Virtual Reality, a subject that he had studied and mastered.
According to Randy, everyone has childhood dreams, but not everyone cares to fulfill them. He feels that it is important to listen to your heart and not lose focus of what you really want to do in life. If you want something passionately, there will be walls, brick-walls and people-walls, but one must figure out a way past that wall through sheer determination and hard work. Life is unpredictable, you can never say when it comes to an end. It is thus important to live each moment with full dedication and achieve what you desire, whether its a person you love, or its a dream that you want to fulfill.
In simple, humorous and a witty manner, Randy gives a message which often spiritual leaders fail to deliver. Follow your dreams and achieve what you want, do not wait for death to stare in your face and regret things that you could have done but couldn't. Life is short, make the most of it, you will never know when your world comes crashing down.
I read this particular book 'The Last Lecture' by Randy Pausch under extraordinary circumstances. A few days back, early in the morning, before leaving for work, I got the news of the demise of my beloved grandmother and was utterly shattered. I rushed to the airport to take a flight back to Delhi to be with my family and while at the airport, I bought this book to keep me occupied for the next two hours and to ease the stress that i was under. Turns out, that I unknowingly made a very good decision.
I had heard about this book from a couple of friends and knew that it is about a Professor who is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has only a couple of months to live. He decides to give the last lecture to his students, a medium that he undertakes to acknowledge the wisdom he has accomplished over the years and to say a final goodbye. As it turns out, The Last Lecture is not about virtual reality, a subject he has taught through the years, but on his life and how he achieved his dreams.
Very few people in this world can face death with courage and accept the fate that lies ahead. The grief of not being able to be with your family and cherish moments that everyone plans for in life, can totally devastate an individual. There are two ways to respond to this scenario; one is to resign to your fate and feel sorry for yourself and for your loved ones, the second is to pick up the pieces, be there for your family in the time that is left, plan for them and make sure that they can live comfortably without you in years to come. Randy chose the second way and showed extraordinary courage and determination to make things better for his family.
At the time of his diagnosis, Randy was 40 years old and with three small kids aged sons Dylan and Logan aged 5, 3 and daughter Chloe aged 18 months. When he and his wife realized that he is suffering from terminal cancer and has a couple of months to live, they decided to visit a family psychiatrist to counsel them through these tough times. Randy was heart-broken that he would not be there for his kids through their growing years, there was so much that he had planned to teach them. He decided that he would record his life's learning through 'the last lecture' that he delivers at Carnegie Melon University where he was a Professor.
The book follows the story of his childhood through the years till he completed his Phd. He describes each of the important learning of his life that he gained over the years with the help of his family and on the strength of his determination. In a very light and humorous manner he describes how he was awed when he first visited Disneyland with his family, mother, father and elder sister. He was so impressed with the magnificence of the place that he decided to become a 'Disney Imagineer' so that one day he could be one of the engineers behind the rides at the park. Since then, each step that he took, he had this goal in his subconscious. And one day, he actually got an offer to go to Disneyland on a sabbatical and make his dream come true where he pioneered the non-profit Alice Project. Similarly, while growing up, the World Encyclopedias had been a constant source of information for him and he had always wondered if he could be someone who actually wrote an article for one of the edition. He was so dedicated in his work, that one day, he finally did get a call from their office to write an article on Virtual Reality, a subject that he had studied and mastered.
According to Randy, everyone has childhood dreams, but not everyone cares to fulfill them. He feels that it is important to listen to your heart and not lose focus of what you really want to do in life. If you want something passionately, there will be walls, brick-walls and people-walls, but one must figure out a way past that wall through sheer determination and hard work. Life is unpredictable, you can never say when it comes to an end. It is thus important to live each moment with full dedication and achieve what you desire, whether its a person you love, or its a dream that you want to fulfill.
In simple, humorous and a witty manner, Randy gives a message which often spiritual leaders fail to deliver. Follow your dreams and achieve what you want, do not wait for death to stare in your face and regret things that you could have done but couldn't. Life is short, make the most of it, you will never know when your world comes crashing down.
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