"The Pre-Post"

So Kristin and I are planning on watching Guru this week. I’m a big fan of suspense and films that leave one hanging on the edge. Any film with deception, bribery, and governmental espionage is right up my alley. :) I guess I just like the thrill. Well, I suppose that this film may not be exactly described as containing “governmental espionage” but it definitely looks like it could be thrilling. I’ve decided to read up on it before watching it so I can have an opportunity to compare my initial thoughts about the movie with my thoughts and feelings after viewing it.

Mani Ratnam

The film was directed by Mani Ratnam who is a native of India and he is known for directing critically acclaimed films such as Mouna Raagam (1986), Nayagan (1987), Anjali (1990), Iruvar (1997), Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Yuva (2004), and his "political trilogy" consisting of Roja (1992), Bombay (1995) and Dil Se (1998). Ratnam has won tons of awards including ten international film festival awards. I suppose just after reading these accomplishments that he has made, I’m sold on investing time to watch his films to see what the hype is all about. His films mostly focus on real life events, strong friendships, and “on screen relationship tangles.”

The movie has received good reviews, did not lose but gained much momentum when it hit the box office, and it was actually the first Indian film to have a mainstream international premiere in Canada. Guru also won several filmfare awards. The New York Times said of the film "You might think it would be difficult to fashion an entertaining account of the life of a polyester manufacturer, even a fictitious one. But the Tamil director Mani Ratnam, known for intelligent political dramas, has done so with “Guru,” an epic paean to can-do spirit and Mumbai capitalism."

So…here we go. And don’t worry - we’ll let you know what we think!

-Liz

What do critiques think about Bollywood films?

If you're wondering what the pros think about some of these Bollywood films that we're watching, well...I have just the solution for you.

I have researched Lagaan, Slumdog Millionaire, and Monsoon Wedding from a few different review websites.

Lagaan

- "Simply put, superb. If you've never seen a Bollywood movie before, this is an excellent place to start.
- "I was told the movie lasted close to 4(!) hours... I figured this would be a complete waste of time... BOY was I wrong! This movie is completely the opposite! It is just amazing!"
- "I can't remember a movie being this thrilling and having so much life in it. And the music has a huge impact"
- "While Lagaan may be criticized for its predictability, it compares favorably to other sports classics such as Pride of the Yankees and The Bad News Bears -- while at the same time it's also reminiscent of timeless musicals such as Grease and even Romeo and Juliet. Even better, it’s a fairy tale that comes from a renowned Indian film culture that allows Americans to finally revel in its splendor."

Slumdog Millionaire

- "“Slumdog Millionaire” is garnering some awards attention and for good reason. Already with best picture nominations from the Golden Globes and the SAG’s, it’s easily the most entertaining and redemptive film I’ve seen this year. Danny Boyle doesn’t pull any punches and delivers a deeply moving picture that works on every level."
- "The film is a simple one, and the life of Malik sometimes flirts with cliche. But the movie succeeds as a sum of its parts, and its slow-building power becomes intoxicating. The film looks absolutely gorgeous, with widescreen vistas of India contrasting with sharp, intrusive closeups during interrogation scenes. The scenes set on the game show itself are both electric and claustrophobic, with Boyle doing his best to approximate the feeling of being on that once legendary show."
- "The acting is uniformly excellent"
- "Since when has sheer energy been reason enough for critical praise? Boyle has proven himself able at mixing his style with several genres thus far, but here, his bold color schemes and hyperactive camera finds scraps for a story, and the buzzing production drowns out Beaufoy's structurally-intriguing script."

Monsoon Wedding

- "The power in the film is its masterful weaving together of the global community in which we live."

- "The visual energy, dancing and music of the film is a cultural feast worthy of the experience, but the value of the film rests in the authentic presentation of our universal spiritual and family lives."

- "Western audiences will appreciate a look at unfamiliar Indian customs like women painting their hands with henna."

- "Sabrina Dhawan's screenplay is vibrant with witty dialog"

- "Monsoon Wedding contains an unbridled intimacy and joy"

- "Nair captures that theory on celluloid in a convincing and memorable fashion, and it’s applied to a people that have been underrepresented in most movie houses."

To find out more about these reviews, you can visit the websites that I found all of these comments on:

http://christiananswers.net/spotlight/home.html

http://www.imdb.com/

http://www.filmcritic.com/

Lagaan

Lagaan is the story of an Indian village joining together to fight the opression of the British officials through a game of cricket. It was interesting how the visual tropes in Lagaan showed realities of Indian culture. One of these visual tropes would be that, in more than one part of the movie, the British were running towards the camera, showing attack in a way. It put us sort of in a fearful position. The British were "protecting" the Indian people at the time period that the movie was set in, but it showed their hegemonic relationship or dominance over the Indian people. Until Bhuvan (the main character) rallied his village to fight this dominant force the Indian people had to consent to the British by paying the Lagaan and having the British officials make decisions that greatly affected their lives.



Another important visual trope in this movie is the use of the sky in the movie. Towards the beginning, there was a scene where the matriarch of the village was looking up at the sky and lamenting the lack of clouds. In order for them to grow their crops so they could pay their lagaan (tax) they needed the rain. The scene when the clouds did come the village began rejoicing and singing. This differs from western culture because we sometimes see rain as a bad thing instead of something that would benefit our lives.

Though this is just a small picture of the visual elements present in Lagaan, we found it helpful and interesting to look at and analyze these different visual tropes.

-Kahle and Kristin

Bollywood fanatic?

You don't have to be interested in Bollywood to actually enjoy it. I thought that one of the movies we had to watch for class (Lagaan) was going to be the death of me because I heard it was 3 and a half hours long in subtitles. That does not sound appealing, now does it? But I was proven wrong. I actually liked the film...a lot. It made me want to explore more into the history and objectives of Bollywood films.
Bollywood has become one of the world's largest film industries. It originated in the early twentieth century, which means it's pretty new to the film world. Their focus has always been to portray and reinforce Indian national identity which includes class, gender, religion, and other important aspects of the Indian culture. The more contemporary Bollywood films like to rely soley on "self-projection" of the individual star's physical and cultural desirability on screen. They like to show ideas of poverty, caste, and tradition that they practice day by day. They want their viewers to really see what their life is like. But they also take extreme pride in the ways that they live, they aren't ashamed.
Another aspect of Bollywood film that really caught my attention was the musical part of it all. Now, I know you're probably thinking, "how can you like their music? You can't even understand what they're saying!" But really, it's catchy! Now, I wouldn't go to the club (as my professor suggests) and bust out any of their moves, but the artform of their music is really interesting. It's neat because it's nothing like our musicals. They are influenced by American films, but, obviously, their music has a meaning towards their own film. It always plays a part in the storyline in some which way or form. They aren't all mushy gushy like American films are, so it's not awkward to watch. They are very modest and show their sense of morality through their films.
So, there ya go. That sums up some major points in Bollywood films. I highly suggest that you watch some of the films that we post as our favorites...they're pretty rad.

If you want to look up more about Bollywood, here's some great links that we found:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1211852?seq=9&Search=yes&term=Cinema&term=Indian&list=hide&resultsServiceName=showBasicSearch

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1213988?seq=2&Search=yes&term=Bollywood&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DBollywood%26wc%3Don&item=1&ttl=161&returnArticleService=showArticle&resultsServiceName=doBasicResultsFromArticle

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3060772?seq=3&Search=yes&term=Bollywood&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DBollywood%26wc%3Don&item=2&ttl=161&returnArticleService=showArticle&resultsServiceName=doBasicResultsFromArticle