6th Pune International Film Festival

Films with dialogues. Films without. Films about war and rapes. Films about love and children. Dry films. Melodramatic films. Sweet films. Silly films.

My first International Film Festival has been quite an experience. I've seen so many films that my waking and sleeping hours are filled with images from them.

For those interested, the official site is here. The fest ends tomm.

Some of my favorite were:

Cherries (Chinese): tells the tale of a retarded woman who brings up an abandoned child and the journey of this parent-child pair

Khuda Ke Liye (Pakistani): an intelligently developed and well thought out plot around a family that struggles with their Islamic identity, both in Pakistan and the US

Someone to run for (Isreali) a sweet story about the runaway teens in Jerusalem - a girl's search for her brother and a boy's search for this girl!

Some really crappy ones were: Because of Love, Hukkle, Kika and Pareethuvaliam.

Taare Zameen Par

A film like Taare Zameen Par has been long due. And I should have guessed that someone like Aamir Khan would bring it to the world. One of the few (good) men around with the courage to be unconventional and question the norm. And of course no one else could've played the role of the compassionate teacher better.

Ishaan is 8 years old. In the third grade, he's a pretty good mix of your average kid that age - he creates mischief, pulls out fish from the school drain, laughs a lot, paints, plays with the street dogs, blows into his glass milk.... nothing unusual there right?

But there is. He doesn't spell well. And is in the third grade for the second year consecutively.

For the vast majority of this ignorant world, Ishaan is just stupid and insolent. What this vast majority doesn't understand is that he suffers from a disorder called dyslexia. Its not something that can't be fixed, but it needs three things to overcome it - love, patience and support.

None of which, ofcourse, were extended to Ishaan by his parents or teachers or the society in general. They didn't know what dyslexia meant. They only knew that he wasn't performing like the other children. And they knew of only one solution around that - force, humiliate, intimidate, threaten, abuse till he ... ? spells right? How?

The tale is told in a heart-wrenching manner. Darsheel Safary who plays Ishaan (Inoo for some) moves effortlessly from naughty, angry, desperate, arrogant, helpless, happy, petrified and a range of emotions that a misunderstood and lonely child might go through. He is indeed a gifted child actor and has been chosen well.

Inoo is sent away to a boarding school after his parents give up on disciplining him. At the new school, the child's sense of self goes from bad to worse. He battles with the guilt of being a punished child and the pain of being separated from his family. He recoils into himself and tumbles into a well of depression and withdrawal.

While Ishaan continues to be a 'gone case' for most, there is someone who sees through the failure and investigates. Ram Shankar Nikumbh, played by the ever reliable Mr. Khan enters the scene and breathes some fresh air into Inoo's life - recognizing his weaknesses, but more importantly, acknowledging his strengths - his genius artistic ability.

Slowly, patiently the teacher works with student, loving, supporting and helping him scrape through the other subjects, but encouraging him to develop his real talent.

The movie might have picked a topic and focussed on a particular issue. But there is a universal message in the film for all of us who interact with children - they are special. In their world, magic, laughter, dance, love - happens all the time. And we have no right to take that away from them. In fact it is we who need to learn from children - how to see miracles in the mundane, how to create, how to live in innocence and trust.

Thank you Taare Zameen Par - good lessons for us adults there.

I am Legend - Review

I wonder if movie stars often claim a film to be entirely theirs?

I have no doubt they do :)

With I Am Legend, Will Smith can make that claim unhesitatingly. For one, he's pretty much the only character in the film. And two, he does a pretty neat job of being that one solitary character.

As usual, America is in trouble. The time is 2012. The place NYC. This time its an unstoppable virus that plagues humanity - infecting and annihilating the world's population. But as the film's promo says - 'The Last man on earth.. is not alone' (spoookkky trailers -check out one here and another here) there are survivors, but they aren't human anymore. Infected by the virus, they now survive only in the dark, and yes, you guessed it, scrounge for human blood to keep alive.

Robert (Smith) is immune to this virus, and as a virologist, struggles to find a cure to reverse the deadly and deathly infection. He also makes valiant (though discernibly hopeless) attempts to reach out to any human survivors in the city - broadcasting everyday on radio, keeping supplies etc. On the personal front, he tries to retain his sanity, in a place with no sign of life around him. A job he's carried out very impressively.

Oh and I almost forgot, he has a dog, who's partly immune too. One really funny moment is when Smith is scanning the calender and exclaims 'Sam, its my b'day!' and Sam the ever loving pet, cocks her head in acknowledgment - tongue out and everything.

The movie shot around a dilapidated and desolate New York, esp Brooklyn Bridge, does a tight-rope walk between thrilling and rattling - springing the viewer to anticipate what's coming next, or putting them off with wild images of the zombies who are downright ugly.

The real turn of events takes place when Smith does finally encounter real survivors - a woman and a child, the former of whom is convinced that a refuge camp exists. Robert, by now devoid of social skills, is adamant that there is no such thing and insists on staying put and figuring out a breakthrough to the virus.

Although the movie keeps you riveted and wanting more, I was less than happy with the ending. Why kill a hero when he can be saved, I ask? I don't think that would have taken anything away from the astounding flow and presentation of the film.

But then, maybe survivors don't get to be legends.

Dus Kahaniyan - Review

Bold, short and rare. That would be Dus Kahaniyan in a nutshell.

Bold because it touches on some seemingly taboo issues such as (hold your breath!) sex, AIDS, extra marital affairs, death, drugs.

Its also refreshingly short and crisp. Each of the ten stories gets its due 15 minutes or so. Short enough to hold attention. Long enough to detail a story well.

Rare because a concept such as this is indeed unheard of in Indian cinema. I hear its a rip-off from an English movie titled The Ten. The Internet tells me that one's a comedy based on the ten commandments (mental note to rent and watch!)

On another note, I think such a concept augers really well for aspiring directors who are capable of making short films well. Often they have no platform to air their work. This could potentially be one such space for the lesser known, equally talented movie makers in India.

Back to the movie.. err movies - some were just plain silly, such as High on the Highway and Sex on The Beach. I forget the name of the one starring Neha Dhupia but it was pretty lame and misrepresented as well. Rise and Fall, the finale to the ten was see-able only because it had the stalwarts Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty pulling a weak script through (ok, the rain effect definitely added to the drama). The others were fairly well executed and some managed to even shock you with their ending.

In all, not a dull moment with the ten stories - even if some were feeble, they kept you guessing and glued till the end.