tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188633552024-03-07T09:25:31.474+05:30Movie MurmurMurmurs from a Mumbai Moviemaker...Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-47141311766501490032021-05-03T14:47:00.008+05:302021-05-03T15:53:21.002+05:30Missing truth, misleading discourse<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzSOFeeMveKINZHkjwPBjDR7uNLeUSdCXG9ryqNFzXSvCU-3tHH8qqOI4ZQDvt5SDmmT3noqjRIp7UFTQc-SuyR2oASLu46Dva5hSv7gc9lec2YKdl68GlualBtkg9NfoQ25Y/s1280/968927-mi-cheerleaders-pti.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzSOFeeMveKINZHkjwPBjDR7uNLeUSdCXG9ryqNFzXSvCU-3tHH8qqOI4ZQDvt5SDmmT3noqjRIp7UFTQc-SuyR2oASLu46Dva5hSv7gc9lec2YKdl68GlualBtkg9NfoQ25Y/w320-h180/968927-mi-cheerleaders-pti.jpg" title="Cheer leaders" width="320" /></a></div><span style="text-align: justify;"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span>The Cheer Leaders</span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">With the Covid situation getting
out of control for the Central Government - as amplified by the number of
deaths on the ground, the ruling regime has been bombarded with questions
regarding its negligent attitude, its failure to anticipate the situation
despite having definite prior information about the second wave. As usual, the cheer leaders of the regime,
like their colourful counterparts in an IPL cricket matchs, are coming up with
opinioned pieces on national newspapers defending the un-defendable. I chanced by two such pieces recently, one by lAnupan Kher and the other by S Gurumurthy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Coming from the person who forcefully exposed the Bofors scandal, the piece from Gurumurthy was a huge damp squib. It
would have well be written by any of the team members of Amit Malaviya's office.
Although it was not as crass as the letter written by the Health Minister Dr
Harsh Vardhan to the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in reply to some
suggestions on how to tackle the pandemic (which I suspect was routed through the
IT Cell or the official RSS functionary in BJP), it unsuccessfully tries to
shift the blame for the pandemic mess, away from the Central Government. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Firstly, it wrongly assumes that
the perception that the Central Government is inept in handling the second
covid wave was caused by the Covid deaths that happened in Delhi. Not a word on the deaths in other
areas, like Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat
etc.. It then blames the private hospitals, especially in Delhi, for not
setting up oxygen plants in their premises, despite making huge profits over
the past covid year and then crying hoarse by filing writ petitions in the
Supreme Court arguying for right to life. The writer deliberately forgets to mention
that the National Disaster Management Act (NDMA) was enforced by the Central
Government in 2020 under which it is the responsibility of the Central
Government to ensure the 'effective management of the disaster' - the supply of
medical oxygen being a part of it. Did
anyone hear of these horrendous omissions </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">mentioned </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">by in the cheer leader's write up? Read
on.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The article also rightly speaks
that the flow of medical oxygen into hospitals in managed privately in India. Since the supply chain has to come from far off places, especially to Delhi, things need to be planned in advance and the private hospitals did not plan well. Besides, the article says, these hospitals did not keep a buffer stock of oxygen in their premises.
If you knew that there was bad planning done by these hospitals, what on the
earth were you doing invoking the NDM act, while the ordinary man on the
street was gasping for breath, desperate for oxygen? Did anyone hear of this
horrendous omission </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">mentioned </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">in the cheer leader's write up? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The writer admits that the prices of oxygen is controlled by the National Pharma Pricing Authority (NPPA), an autonomous body under the Central Government's Chemical and Fertilizer Ministry. If the private hospital were over charging for oxegen,
why the heavens did the Central Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizer not regulate it through the NPPA? The
mention of the 'autonomous' nature of the body that is NPPA is a subtle attempt
to insulate a Central Ministry and thus the Central Government against its
abdication of constitutional regulatory duties. Did anyone hear of these horrendous
omissions </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">mentioned </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">in the cheer leader's write up? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">And then, the article talks about the 162 PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption - a technology that seperates oxygen from the ambient air) plants sanctioned by the Central Government at a cost of over 2000 crores in October last year that were to be installed in the hospitals premises itself, out of which only 33 have been implemented fully. The writer puts the entire blame for this delay on the State Governments. The Delhi Government, for example, has made it clear that they had provided the necessary land for the purpose in eight of their units for their state; one got completed and since then the contractor has been missing. The money for these units came from the PM Care fund and has been routed through the Central Health Ministry which had called for the construction bids from private players. Apparently one person was granted to implement all the 162 bids and in all the States! Did anyone hear of these horrendous omissions / commissions mentioned in the cheer leader's write
up? <o:p></o:p></span></p></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKr378dBakOOd90qZwXFJhOq8p9XIGv7oHh79B7GBaEXRTeSIJsy-JLxwqrxgjzSYeuQKpMLH_Hwg_q89AOsn2KyJJg3MxW4D5E7kkhdnWx87CsyfFiZ7cHSirnR4DJbLVbi6/s3806/IMG_20210503_134652.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2326" data-original-width="3806" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKr378dBakOOd90qZwXFJhOq8p9XIGv7oHh79B7GBaEXRTeSIJsy-JLxwqrxgjzSYeuQKpMLH_Hwg_q89AOsn2KyJJg3MxW4D5E7kkhdnWx87CsyfFiZ7cHSirnR4DJbLVbi6/s320/IMG_20210503_134652.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> The article by S Gurumurthy</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times;">In
the next paragraph, the writer distinguishes the second wave as different from
the first covid wave in 2020, implying that it came all of a sudden giving the Central Government no
time to prepare. He stops short of saying that it was an 'act of god', although
he was steadly getting there. Both the official scientific expert commitee on Covid and
the Parliamentary Committee on Covid had red flagged matters about the new virulent strain of Covid and about the severity of the impending second wave to the Central Government. The
czars who run the Central Government had other pressing things to do - like
winning elections for instance - for them move swiftly and concretely on this
aspect. Did anyone hear of these horrendous omissions </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">mentioned </span><span style="font-family: times;">in the cheer leader's write
up? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times;">Finally,
the opposition and their apparent fear mongering is blamed for the initial
vaccine hesitancy that the people of India had harboured. Had the central government been
transparent on the vaccine especially when pushing for one such vaccine that did not have
the phase three trial when it was approved, things would have been different. Besides,
the Central Government in a false sense of complacency allowed the IPL cricket
league, inaugurated new stadiums, the Khumb Mela, the election campaigning - 8
phases in Bengal, and mega spreader events of such kinds to happen. The Prime Minister and the Home
Minister of the country in most occasions were themselves not seen wearing masks and maintaining social distancing. Did that not
send a wrong message to the public? Did anyone hear of these horrendous
omissions </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">mentioned</span><span style="font-family: times;"> in the cheer leader's write up? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times;">Finally,
the writer blames the Indian public that they were not wearing masks and
maintaining social distance etc.. - a narrative constantly thrust by the
official Central Government spokespersons themselves, leave alone the
unofficial cheer leaders. That is what this opinion piece is about - shifting
the blame from the Central Government to the private medical sector
(notwithstanding the supreme leader singing paeans to the private sector), to
the 'autonomous' body that NPPA is, to God, to the opposition parties and
finally to the people of India. Burning pyres be damned!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">And then there is this Anupam Kher article that I
had mentioned in the beginning. Well, its gist can be summed up in the favorite
phrase that the writer of the highly coloured article loves to utter come what may, pandemic deaths or
otherwise - 'Aayega tho Modi Hi...' (The one who is going to win, is Modi.)</span></span></p>Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-1123814393371111822021-02-28T10:27:00.006+05:302021-02-28T18:00:39.962+05:30My Lords and Ladies... <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7SKedyntrIFqgCeQNQuIpqf_t6LKlVBM9OoiQ_5RE-90ytukEfBbgkP-ArvEnYL2nr45OvBPYpOx1C21z-C7J1hEzSy2t4Vs-H3CLlMh3juxM8wSppTLaa8ywbSanF-qDhh4I/s750/Tandav.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="750" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7SKedyntrIFqgCeQNQuIpqf_t6LKlVBM9OoiQ_5RE-90ytukEfBbgkP-ArvEnYL2nr45OvBPYpOx1C21z-C7J1hEzSy2t4Vs-H3CLlMh3juxM8wSppTLaa8ywbSanF-qDhh4I/s320/Tandav.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The reasoning behind the Honorable Judgment of the 'anticipatory bail' application of the makers of the movie 'Tandav' and the responsible head of its exhibiting platform, looks a bit strange and atypical. No doubt that there are reasonable restrictions to free expression that are guaranteed in the Constitution of our country - restrictions pertaining to matters of integrity of India, public order, friendly relationship with other countries, decency or morality, incitement to violence or issues that are mentioned in the various laws that the state has passed. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) makes it an offence to hurt sentiments of religious communities or to commit any act that is prejudicial to the 'maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, and which disturbs or is likely to disturb the public tranquility' and to cause 'enmities' between two communities'. The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act (SC/ST) punishes any non ST / ST person for publicly intimidating or for uttering derogatory statements against any member of the SC / ST community. These largely were the grounds on which multiple F.I.R.s against the makers and exhibitors of 'Tandav' were filed. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Recently, the anticipatory bail of the said persons were denied by the Honorable Allahabad High Court which upheld that the movie hurt the religious sentiments of the majority community infringing upon their fundamental rights and had the potential to disturb public tranquility by causing enmity between two communities. Such a conclusion was based on some key scenes referred to in paragraph 12 of the Honorable Judgment. In this paragraph four scenes whose dialogues are objectionable are listed out. The Honorable Court thinks that these dialogues are detrimental to the 'maintenance of harmony of different religious groups or castes or communities' and are 'bound to hurt the sentiments of the majority community'. The said scenes involve scripted characters who have been given names of gods of the major community. These scripted characters either have highly animated views on the social stratification of the society that has resulted in unequal power equations between communities or have enacted the roles of gods in a performance on a college stage where they make a strong case for equality amongst communities making references to contemporary times and events. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Honorable Judge in paragraph 14 of his Honorable Order explains the grounds on which these scenes are seen to be as troublesome. The first scene that it mentions is long and has two scripted ordinary characters of the movie - Vishal and Shiv, who are playing the roles of Sage Narad - the eternal cosmic messenger and Shiva - one of the revered gods, respectively. These scripted ordinary characters in the movie - one of them having a god-name - are playing divine characters in a drama that is being staged in front of an appreciative college audience. The scene starts like this - Lord Shiva played on a stage by character Shiv is worried that the popularity of another god, Lord Rama has increased on social media over the years and Sage Narad, played on stage by character Vishal, suggests that as a counter the former should post something sensational on the net so that his (On stage Lord Shiva) popularity increases. And when the audience who is watching the drama performance in the movie claps and cheers on these dialogues, the Honorable Judge's case is that the 'esteemed and revered characters of the faith of the majority community of India have been lampooned and portrayed in a cheap and objectionable way.' </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This seems to be a far-fetched interpretation, as the claps and the cheers by the spectators within the movie are done for the performance of a drama that is being staged by the other characters of the movie. The Honorable Judge mistakenly infers that they are being done against the divine characters - the gods themselves - who are 'revered by the majority community'. Further, the Honorable Judge makes another preposterous assumption that the reference to Lord Rama by the characters in the movie who play gods on stage, is alluding to the construction of the actual Ram temple currently being planned in Ayodhya. Therefore, by default, the 'lampooning' that the audience within the movie has indulged in by cheering and clapping at the performance that they are seeing on stage which has dialogues on the popularity of Lord Ram in present times, is actually an insult to the construction of the temple. Whereas a careful reading of the plot of the scene and the understanding of the flow of the dialogues uttered therein it becomes clear that all that the enacted on-stage gods have done in its beginning is to have highlighted the fact that Lord Ram is popular on the internet, these days - nothing more or nothing less. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even assuming that a connection to the construction of the Ram temple is deliberately hinted at by the movie maker and that there is the aforesaid 'lampooning' involved, prima facie the structure of the scene plot is such that it is clear that it is the audience within the movie who is watching the staged drama that is involved in the said 'lampooning', it might or might not be the movie maker who is doing so. Now, that begs another question - how does one decide if it is the characters who are 'lampooning' the gods or if it is also the movie maker? To determine this one has to have an understanding the language of cinema. There could be subtle micro level tools used in the movie that could betray the movie maker's position. Just to give a crude example - as the audience is laughing and clapping the sound in the scene could suddenly fade off to let the audience just see the people laughing in slow motion but not hear them. Or while the people are laughing, the movie might cut to the extreme close up of laughing faces and mouths, with an echo given to the sounds of the claps and laughs. There could be many other ways to do it, but one must design that extra underlining that is involved, that which could betray the movie's intention. That extra underlining has to be recognized by the audience who is seeing the movie before any stand is taken on it. While unilaterally deciding that it is the movie maker who is endorsing the 'lampooning' of gods, the Honorable Judge does not seem to have taken into consideration these crucial factors involving film appreciation and it's reading. Can we then ridiculously extend the argument to every movie that has a rape or a murder in it and conclude that the movie maker endorses such violent acts? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Later in paragraph 19 (i) of the order the Honorable Judge quotes the Supreme Court Judgment in the Amish Devgan case where among other things it has held that tolerance would also mean that 'all persons or groups are equal even when all opinions or conduct are not equal.' With a cursory reading of scene one in its entirety - as listed in paragraph 12 of the Honorable Judgment - it is clear that the actors who are playing gods on a stage within the movie - presumably in a college function - have concluded and made it clear that the 'freedom' that the students are asking is not against the country but it is the freedom that is to be attained on people being equal within the country and amongst groups. This thought brings this scene in tune with the intention behind the Amish Devgan Judgment - that tolerance is also when all groups are equal. Yet, the Honorable Judge sees this scene as "likely to cause disturbance and threats to public order" mainly because he has made up his mind that in the scene the Hindu gods and goddesses are referred to in a 'berating' manner. And what exactly does the Honorable Judgment mean by this 'berating' manner? The scripted characters in the movie who are playing the roles of gods on their college stage are seen making 'inflammatory' speeches by asking the other to tweet against the students while dubbing them as 'traitors and raising slogans of freedom'. The Honorable Judge also assumes that the reference here is to the students of Jawaharlal National University (JNU). It is because of this conclusion he comes to a baseless deduction and writes, 'and therefore, it can be considered to be a message of hate advanced through the movie". So, what exactly is the hate speech here? Is it that the characters playing gods on stage advise each other to tweet about college students while branding them as 'traitors' or is it a hate speech because a reference to JNU in inferred? Anyone's guess. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another scene of the movie quoted by the Honorable Judge has Devakinandan - quite possibly a dominant upper caste character boasting and reminding Kailash, possibly a person not from the upper caste, about the power hierarchy embedded in their relationship. The Honorable Judge acknowledges that Devakinandan and Kailash are two scripted ordinary characters in the movie and that, as he rightly points out in the Honorable Order, the scene's dialogues are 'insidious' in nature with regards to caste. Again, the moot point would be this - does the movie maker endorse the 'insidious' nature of the dialogues that belittles the lower caste or is this simply a character trait that the movie tries to highlight? These are purely cinematic narrative matters that the Honorable Order and the Honorable Judge could be simply oblivious of. Or maybe it could be so that they have conveniently refused to tread this path because if they did so they would then be open to the possibility of not mixing up the 'insidious' nature of the characters with that of the film makers. If no connection is found between the two, how then could the movie makers be indicted? The Honorable Judge is absolutely spot on when he says that 'these characters (gods) are part of religious faith of majority community'. But to conclude that the use of these names are 'offensive' in nature and thus is 'bound to hurt the religious sentiments of the majority community' - because the ordinary scripted character is being 'insidious' in nature with regards to caste - is a flawed argument. It makes the mistake of confusing the revered gods with the scripted ordinary characters in the movie and that too in a scene that dutifully depicts the horrors of the existence of stratification of communities. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">These scenes, says the Honorable Judge in paragraph 19 (ii), "are not claimed as part of entire movie and necessary for conveying the message which the film overall conveys." For one, the Honorable Judge has not dwelled in his Honorable Order as to what the movie in totality conveys. This is a mandatory process that needs to be undergone before anyone decides and declares if the scene fits into the overall thematic scheme of the movie. The Honorable Judge might have based his argument on the fact that the defendants have not argued that these scenes are integral to the entirety of the movie and the message it is conveying. If so, it can be seen as a mistake - legally for the defendants - as the Honorable Judge has implied. It could also be a mistake from the narrative point of view for the movie makers. Why have any sequence or a part of the plot that does not fit into the whole picture? Aristotle opines that those portions of the plot that are not a part of the whole, have no business to be in the whole. Not that the Honorable Judge has quoted Aristotle as per section 57 of the Indian Evidence act; but what he has indeed quoted under this section - as an evidence - is the Chicago address of Vivekanand wherein he had said that the goal of all the religions is the same - to find the ultimate truth or God. Though it does not make any such opinionated statement on religions, our Constitution does guarantee equality of religions. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA7r1iORPB30Wu-_AMMScVKQWwTnAjEAUEmQaT0TT2jBrPRW4y1p4U7WZD86zrKIktcQmbAMk7e2afNoFBER0U5VMBQ4CZJEFdOhuvWCQFoE8GeA1lwq9ez5nfDpTNlESbgPNN/s1000/the-gospel-according-to-s-011.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA7r1iORPB30Wu-_AMMScVKQWwTnAjEAUEmQaT0TT2jBrPRW4y1p4U7WZD86zrKIktcQmbAMk7e2afNoFBER0U5VMBQ4CZJEFdOhuvWCQFoE8GeA1lwq9ez5nfDpTNlESbgPNN/s320/the-gospel-according-to-s-011.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Gospel according to St. Mathews</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The Honorable Judge invokes section 3 (i) (r) of the Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribe (SC / ST) Act in paragraph 19 (v) of the Honorable Order. It is a section that criminalizes the intentional public intimidation or insult of a SC / ST by a non SC / ST. A dialogue from episode six of the movie is referred to wherein one character named Jigar mentions to another character Sandhya that when a man of lower caste dates a woman of higher caste, he is taking revenge for the centuries of atrocities from that one woman. Now, if Jigar is not from the upper caste and Sandhya is an upper caste character the said dialogues can be described as an intimidation from a member of SC / ST on a non SC / ST woman. Where does section 3 (i) (r) of the SC / ST Act come in here as the sub section pertains to the intimidation of an SC / SC by a non SC / ST? On the other hand, if Sandhya is not from the upper caste the said dialogues might not have an intimidating effect on her, because by its very nature it is meant to intimidate the upper class and not otherwise. So then, how can section 3 (i) (r) be applied? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yet the Honorable Judge says, "there is clear intention of humiliating the women of scheduled caste" and that talking of centuries old revenge would affect "social harmony". When the Honorable Judge declares with reference to this scene, "The aforesaid scene shows the members of scheduled castes in the manner of intentional insult with the intent to humiliate in a movie meant for public view and therefore, the implication of the applicant for offences u/s 3(1)(r) of the S.C./S.T. Act is made out.", he probably implies that the character who mouths the said dialogues in the movie is not from the SC / ST category and the very fact that he is asked by the movie makers to mouth such a dialogue that intends to seek revenge for the centuries of humiliation to the ST / SC category, is itself an insult to anyone from the SC/ST caste who might or might not be watching the movie. Well, as the Facebook jargon says, 'it's complicated' or maybe even confusing. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The cream of the Honorable Judgment is reserved for paragraph 20 and 21. They are pure examples of essay writing, full of opinions and some false facts - all in the name of 'judicial notice'. Had they not been in this Honorable Order, the two Honorable Paragraphs could easily be mistaken to be taken from an editorial of a online portal. A 'judicial notice' allows the court to recognize and accept the existence of a particular fact commonly known by persons of average intelligence without establishing its existence by admitting evidence in a civil or criminal action. Under this guise the Honorable Judge assumes 'common knowledge' to 'establish' without giving any 'evidence' that the 'crimes' that the makers and exhibitors of 'Tandav' have committed helps people whose intention is to spoil the international image of India by drubbing it as an intolerant nation. Does't this sound familiar? The Honorable Judge further states some historically inaccurate facts by claiming that western movie makers have "refrained from ridiculing Lord Jesus or the Prophet" oblivious - deliberately or otherwise - to the controversial depiction of Jesus Christ in Martin Scorsese's 'The Last Temptation of Christ' (1988), Monty Python’s 'Life of Brian' (1979) or Mel Gibson's 'Passion of Jesus' (2004), not to speak of some European filmmakers like Paolo Pasolini or Lars von Trier. The Honorable Judge might not even be aware of a film made in 1976 by a Syrian born Hollywood film maker Moustapha Akkad called "The Message', which was on Mohamed Prophet. The film had earned the wrath of the Muslim world and for which Akkad had to pay with his life. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Honorable Judge's 'judicial notice' further laments that ridiculing of Hindu gods and goddess in movies have inspired the comic stand ups like Munawar Faruqui to take that path. There is a mention of his event in Indore and his arrest for doing so - matters portrayed as a 'fact' that is established by 'common knowledge' legitimized by its inclusion in 'judicial findings' section in the Honorable Order. The truth is that Munawar was arrested because of a mere apprehension that he would indulge in such a ridicule. The police do not have any video evidence of Munawar ridiculing Hindu gods, simply because he had not done so at the Indore event. Further, the Honorable Order makes a passing reference to the bail that he has been granted. The Honorable Judge's wrath in paragraph 22 is also targeted against movies like Raj Kapoor's 'Ram teri Ganga maili', 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram', Rajkumar Hirani's 'PK' and Umesh Shukla's 'Oh My god' which are termed as films that show disrespect to Hindu gods and goddess with the intention to make money - an accusation he also throws on Munnawar. The Honorable Judge sees a sinister design behind all these - and argues that this tendency to be curbed lest our younger generation gets corrupted and forgets our social and cultural heritage. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thus, the anticipatory bail against the makers and exhibitors of 'Tandav' gets rejected. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3hmQwOqsH42wMGlN9imyKHPiJSo6Ys0hyfvxpUSHKbCo9x_WSzj34jD_1XQI4mA1WfwgOqFERLbVlL-OWmXtnvbgxbJFYefCJlOiw1jMTYOn1DMSjW7e93HdpNEYKBR8UxP4/s382/The-Message.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="260" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3hmQwOqsH42wMGlN9imyKHPiJSo6Ys0hyfvxpUSHKbCo9x_WSzj34jD_1XQI4mA1WfwgOqFERLbVlL-OWmXtnvbgxbJFYefCJlOiw1jMTYOn1DMSjW7e93HdpNEYKBR8UxP4/s320/The-Message.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Message</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The prosecution had argued in the Honorable Allahabad High Court that the existence of multiple F.I.R.s against the movie proves that the dissatisfaction against it for hurting religious sentiments and causing enmities between communities is wide spread. The question as to whether the religious sentiments were actually hurt or not has not been addressed in the Honorable Order. Is it sufficient for a person to say that his / her religious feelings are hurt in an F.I.R for the Allahabad High Court to assume it to be true based on its own interpretation of what had caused such a hurt? There seems to be no need for the complainant to prove that he/she was hurt by showing an evidence of such. Nor is the Honorable Judge asking for it, if we go by his Honorable Order. Notwithstanding my reservations on the qualities of movies and web series that are being exhibited presently in many online platforms, as a non believer or a skeptic if I declare and file a counter complaint that my '(non)religious sentiments' are hurt by these multiple frivolous F.I.R.s, would that also be taken seriously? This becomes all the more crucial in these days when the lodging of such multiple frivolous F.I.R.s can be coordinated efficiently in a large scale by sharing tool kits on the net that would guide and ask people to indulge in such coordinated actions. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My Lords and Ladies, this case seems fit for an Honorable Appeal in the Supreme Court.
</div>Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-21384768670564176092020-07-19T17:17:00.002+05:302020-07-19T17:19:01.297+05:30From Roshan - Mobile Vlog 02 - Hand & Leg Exercises<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UGdX1BLEcp4" width="480"></iframe>Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-18610889204807120442020-07-13T10:56:00.001+05:302020-07-13T10:56:10.477+05:30From Roshan - Mobile Vlog 01 - Biscuit Cake<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lEzG2Jp0VQ8" width="480"></iframe>Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-55548208244098251022020-06-20T16:35:00.006+05:302020-06-22T07:22:46.445+05:30Gustakhi Maaf<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiY22hsv1t-lxu4hAvu4pO3h_Mi_JQUKKW_mUejbmi5vyz1yMyidareVDEriFrvDtabG8E7oqv9H_4_dqBulOmULzpS5bRapiIQYZ4-N0Tk5wEW7YVkEKPV-v1uuIsFIQ5s7wv/s1500/Three+Moneyy+Edit.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="781" data-original-width="1500" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiY22hsv1t-lxu4hAvu4pO3h_Mi_JQUKKW_mUejbmi5vyz1yMyidareVDEriFrvDtabG8E7oqv9H_4_dqBulOmULzpS5bRapiIQYZ4-N0Tk5wEW7YVkEKPV-v1uuIsFIQ5s7wv/w500-h261/Three+Moneyy+Edit.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A blind monkey at the center</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">An edifice can
only be as efficient as its base. There is no point admiring a fancy well made
facade, if it's foundation itself is shaky. This is precisely what is felt
about the movie, 'Andhadhun'.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The protagonist who is a musician sets up
an experiment on himself by acting blind - so that it enables him to compose his
tunes well. This seems to be the starting point of the movie - an aspect that is
half halfheartedly told in a voice-over right at the beginning; and then later
somewhere in the middle, when the protagonist desperately explains about this dialogues in a few
dialogues, as his game is exposed. Not giving enough screen time to set up the intensity of the 'why' of this experiment that needs
him to go blind, is one reason why the pedestal of this movie seems unsteady. Of course, we know that he wants to create a musical piece for a competition that could let him into the greener pastures of a foreign land, but
that just becomes a super convenient device - and there are many such
manufactured elements all through the movie - to carry forward the plot and its
high explosive stunning points. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Everything in the first few minutes builds towards a key sequence in the movie - where the play acting blind protagonist
comes to a house where he unwittingly witnesses the disposal of a dead body. Without
this sequence, the movie would not have moved forward in the manner it did.
Agreed that the old lady next door forces the 'dead body disposing' lady to let
in the protagonist into her house. But why would that lady force herself into a
position where she has to ask the musician to play the piano; with a dead body begging
to be disposed of in her closet? The first instinct an ordinary person would
have is to drift away from that position as quickly as possible, not the least to take the risk and ask the
musician to play the piano while you are disposing of the body. It makes logical sense to get
rid of the body while there is no one around.
But not in this movie.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Also, why would anyone hang on in a place
a where a dead body has been seen, acting blind and playing melodious tunes on
a piano acting as if nothing has happened, playing along with the 'dead body
disposing' lady? The plausibility of such an act seems extremely slim,
especially when the intensity of the blind experiment that the protagonist has
been indulging in, has not been established in the first place. The primary instinct
of any ordinary person in such a situation would be to escape from that place
as early as possible. If it is otherwise, there better be a solid established motivation. But
here, it is never know as to why is the protagonist obliged to continue playing
the blind act, despite the horror of seeing the dead body and a gun; and despite being
in close proximity to the possible murderers. Is it so because if he is not in
the room when the body is being conveniently disposed off in the manner it has
been done, the plot cannot move forward in the way it did? The USP the movie is
banking on seems to be this - the dead body has to be disposed before the man who is play acting blind and the man has to see it being disposed off, but the 'dead body disposing' couple
will have to think that he has not. Believability be damned!</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Normally, the first plot point in a movie occurs as a coincidence, comedy or otherwise. The credibility of this first chance is enhanced if it is made plausible. Each movie would have its own methods to increase the degree of believability of it's chances, including chances that occur because of a personality trait of the character. Whatever be the methods, without enough screen time provided in the body of the movie, these chances would remain unconvincing. And if the chance element is the first one of the movie, upon which everything else is built upon, the rest of the coincidences - if any - too are likely to fall flat. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">There are lots of such 'convenient'
elements further down the movie; in screenplay parlance it is called 'convenient plotting'. The wife's lover happens to be police inspector
to whom the protagonist <i>has</i> to go to - when he thinks of reporting the dead body
to the police, which ultimately he does not, realizing that the inspector is the
very man who is involved in the act. The teenage daughter of the dead man <i>has</i>
to have an interest in music - again fleetingly mentioned through a piece of
dialogue - for the hero to come back to the dead man's house yet again, to
'witness' the 'body disposing' wife throw the old neighbor out of the building.
The protagonist <i>has</i> to faint in the night on the road and <i>has</i> to be picked by
the seemingly helpful auto rickshaw couple, so that they bring him to the
doctor involved in an illegal kidney racket. The seemingly friendly auto
rickshaw couple who force themselves fully in the screenplay half way down the movie, <i>have</i> to be fleetingly
and conveniently be seen helping the blind man in the beginning.
There <i>has</i> to be a Sheikh from the middle east whose daughter needs a kidney
transplant and whose blood group conveniently <i>has</i> to match with that of the 'dead body
disposing' lady murderer, so that they encounter the rabbit - which in turn
enables the protagonist to successfully migrate abroad, where years later, conveniently
the lady love meets him, so that she can is narrated a cock and bull story by him on
how he had survived the car accident with the rabbit. These are just a few of the
elements cataloged which probably exists in the movie only because the plot
has to move forward in the manner it did, after the first coincidence that looked weak. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">If fact, hitting the high points in the
plot to numb the audience into awe and submission seems to be the primary
object of this movie. Why should the
protagonist, who is probably still acting blind going by the way he hits the
empty can in the last shot of the movie, tell a cock and bull story, on how he has
survived the rabbit, to his ex-girlfriend in a foreign land whom he has met by
chance merely or for the sake of the plot? For what purpose? With all that
trauma that he has undergone before arrival of the rabbit on the highway and
probably even after that, why would he still want to carry on with the blind experiment,
especially when he has achieved the standard of success that he has set for himself?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">So, it all comes back to the basic
question posed in the beginning. Why is the protagonist hell bent on carrying
on with his blind act, despite all odds? What exactly is his motivation - apart
from the fact we know through a random voice-over in the beginning and a few dialogues
in the middle - that it helps him compose music well? Has any substantial
screen time been given to this aspect so that it makes the rest of the plot
believable? If it is not, then why is it so? Is it because the experiment in
itself is not the intention of the movie? So, what then is it's intention?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Our position by the end of the movie is
like that of the ex-girlfriend of the protagonist. The dumb girl has become submissively
numb after hearing her friend's cock and bull story. Like her, we too do not
know the 'why' of the plot or of the blind experiment and the reasons for it's
intensity. Like her, we too have been enamored by the high bang points and the
surprise twists that occur at rapid successions all through the plot; those which
make us forget that there is no such 'why' to this movie. Are the plot twists
that captivate and enamor the audience in themselves what the movie is all
about?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Film Industry, gustakhi maaf !</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /></div>Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-358598059587596392020-06-15T07:37:00.004+05:302020-06-15T07:43:55.489+05:30Selfies with Siri (ಸಿರಿ ಒಟ್ಟುಗು ಸೆಲ್ಫಿಲು)<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HjHXrZVcWtk" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><h1 class="title style-scope ytd-video-primary-info-renderer" style="background: rgb(249, 249, 249); border: 0px; color: var(--ytd-video-primary-info-renderer-title-color, var(--yt-spec-text-primary)); font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: var(--ytd-video-primary-info-renderer-title-font-size, var(--yt-navbar-title-font-size, inherit)); font-weight: 400; line-height: 2.4rem; margin: 0px; max-height: 4.8rem; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-shadow: var(--ytd-video-primary-info-renderer-title-text-shadow, none); transform: var(--ytd-video-primary-info-renderer-title-transform, none);"><yt-formatted-string class="style-scope ytd-video-primary-info-renderer" force-default-style="" style="word-break: break-word;">Selfies with Siri (ಸಿರಿ ಒಟ್ಟುಗು ಸೆಲ್ಫಿಲು)</yt-formatted-string></h1><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #030303; font-family: roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A short 20 minute movie in Tulu language with English subtitles on the back story of the benevolent spirit (Bootha) of Coastal Karnataka called Siri, directed by Ramchandra PN. This movie was created during the Covid 19 lock down period; sitting at our homes self-shooting on mobiles, using existing footage and minimalist illustrations. The ballad version used in this short movie is the one documented by Late Rama Manjeshawara and Dr. Amrut Someshwar. When possible, watch this with a headphone plugged in.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #030303; font-family: roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cast & Crew: </span></div><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #030303; font-family: roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: center;">Illustrations: Manoj Mundayat </div><div style="text-align: center;">Siri Mask: Sateesh Acharya </div><div style="text-align: center;">Singer: Shailaja Shetty Background </div><div style="text-align: center;">Music designer: Shrikant Prabhu </div><div style="text-align: center;">Line Producer: Surendra Kumar Marnad </div><div style="text-align: center;">Music editing & Remixing: Santosh Kumar </div><div style="text-align: center;">Producer: Sushma PN </div><div style="text-align: center;">Editing, Screenplay, Direction & Sound Design: Ramchandra PN </div><div style="text-align: center;">Banner: Sonk Films </div><div style="text-align: center;">Featuring: Aruna Raje, Ranjita Jhadav, Akshataraj Perla,, Sushma PN, Shailaka Shetty, Prathiba Pasricha, Batul Mukhtiar, Ahalya Ballal, Jayalakshmi Patil and Devaki Badagabelluru. </div></span></div>Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-74403178894718022232020-04-05T19:40:00.001+05:302020-04-05T19:41:10.858+05:30COVID ANAND 2020<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QZ8OBH7t31o" width="480"></iframe>Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-39637515540314049992020-03-29T10:50:00.001+05:302020-03-29T13:15:33.026+05:30Covid Nirvana !!!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://vimeo.com/123477953" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg66JrM35b9oPStfpAvlsE9pfThvlz_tPbziTT7bA6MfCBR51uNKue5kT8l2o1ms1Xd2QwbeZJoE2_uMxm-JaM1UDqznIQyly5p1-w5inTzn-amcM9Mvza9OxEMzPKe4C8xTkEN/s320/HEK+Stills+%25283%2529+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
Click to watch<a href="https://vimeo.com/123477953" target="_blank"> Haal-e--Kangaal (The Bankrupts)</a></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="368" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/123477953" width="640"></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Though I have always fathomed myself as an
eager digital migrant, like some of us from my generation I have been in
the fumbling mode while grappling with possibilities that this medium holds. The
medium has empowered me in the making of all sort of independent movies which
otherwise I would have found it difficult to create and produce in an previous
era. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The one pertinent aspect of digital movie
making is that it is democratic in nature - in the sense that you don't have to
necessarily depend on the exhibitor - distributor lobby to raise funds to make them.
Today anyone in any remote part of the country having access to affordable
machines and tools can make a movie; unlike before where one had to physically
shift to select film making centers like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore or
Hyderabad to make movies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">But it is the second aspect of the medium whose
dynamics is what I have been trying to grapple with over the years, I am sure
some of my independent moviemaking colleagues would have also gone through /
are in a similar kind of existence. It is the aspect that relates to the
medium's supposed ability to facilitate large scale dissemination of our
work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Having been brought up in believing the virtues
of community watching of movies as an ideal form of dissemination of works (not
just the conventional theater screens), the inherent nature of the digital
transmission is more suited to individual viewing - you can watch a movie on
the go and in your palm. Also, as while reading a book the movie viewing individuals have the
possibility to easily go back or forward before coming back to the point that
there were in. They can even stop the movie and pick it up at a later time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Notably, with the internet shoving up a
plethora of information at us and with the limited time that we have with us, our attention
span too gets reduced by that much. Therefore we have captions like '2 minute'
read before articles, therefore the popularity of the ten second videos or
therefore the inundation of pieces on 'ten best places to visit this summer' or
'five best movies to see before you die' and the likes. And above all, we still
have to figure out that elusive thing called algorithms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">How would the above mentioned aspects alter the
way I make my movies? Movie making is linear in time. That is the way we have known
it hitherto, ingrained into our blood streams. With changing equations of
digitization, how does the aesthetics change? I am sure my colleagues too, like
me, are dealing with such issues in their own way and are coming up with some
synthesis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">It would be interesting to see as to what
shapes our movies would eventually take - if the idea is to go beyond the populist forms like cookery capsules, the how to do it stuff, funny memes (I
love some of them), porn, short news reporting, family showcase videos and the works. It is a work in progress and I am yet to figure out my path in this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Coming back to dissemination, while I have less
control over the movies that I have directed for others, I certainly am
empowered with the ones that I have produced myself. One of the old habits that we movie makers have while dealing with digitization is to upload our movies onto the net with a password, primarily to facilitate the movie's participation at
film festivals that don't want entries that are already out there on the net. Film
festivals sure gives some visibility to our movies, I would also like to re-think
the purposes of holding such events, especially in a post Covid19 world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Yes, it is now time to come to Covid19. The
unprecedented once in a life time lock-down it has caused had forced us to sit
back at home, at least for those who have one, and reflect on what life and
work has been till now and would be in a post Covid19 scenario. As such we have collectively been fearing
about the possibility of closure of all movie screens in the days to come, thanks
to the internet. Well that day has come. I am now forced to see the value of the
experience that individual movie watching brings with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">I do realize now that I was holding on to my
movies, not letting it be out there, by the virtue of hiding it behind a
password. I am also inclined to believe that pay by view approach on the net restricts
access to movies. Many platforms have shifted / are shifting to a lesser
restrictive subscription base model -
many don't feel it necessary to have a transparent process that is a win-win for all - even for the independent movie maker. I increasingly find
the 'pay if you find value' <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>unrestricted
in nature; a model that works for Wikipedia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">I therefore, as a start and a part of my
Covid Nirvana syndrome, am letting go of one of my movies the details of which are
below. Damn the password! The movie is not a short and is not made in accordance with the aesthetics
of the digital medium - the details of which I am still figuring out. But I promise
you that it will be engaging, if you are willing to engage with it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="368" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/123477953" width="640"></iframe></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Name of the movie: </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Bankrupts (Haal-E-Kangaal)</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Language: Hindi with English subtitles<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Duration: 105 minutes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Cast: Niraj Sah, Hemant Mahaur<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Visual Consultant (Post) Malay Roy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Mixing Supervisor: Boby John<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Director of Photography: Narayanan
Venkatraman<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Sound Recordist & Designer:
Santosh Kumar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Screenplay, Direction, Editing:
Ramchandra PN<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Producers: Sushma PN, Ramchandra PN<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Synopsis: </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Two
filmmaker friends meet after fourteen years to spend a span of eight
to ten hours together. As they celebrate the re-union, one narrates a story of
a possible film to another. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">But
soon, as the secession turns into a game of one up-man-ship</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
their bizarre past catches up with them central to this is the fatherhood of a
fourteen year old girl!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> duo by the end realise that they are
as bankrupt as ever, in all sense of the word.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Director's
note: When producers were hard to come by after my first two fiction features, this self funded low cost movie was conceived as a chamber movie - set in a restricted space with two
characters. It was a challenge to go beyond the space and time that is physically and
restrictively been depicted on the frame. Having seen many independent filmmaker friends
struggle to make the movies that they really wanted to make, I reflect on my own
profession - the genesis of which is the fundamental question of the ability to
create something 'worthwhile'.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">About the Director: Ramchandra PN is
Film School graduate who has been making documentaries, features, short films
and TV programs; and is occasionally involved with cinema academics. His first
feature ‘Suddha’ (The Cleansing Rites) won him the Best Indian Film at the
Osian Cinefan Festival of Asian Films, New Delhi, India in 2006 and an
exhibition grant from ‘Hubert Bals Fund’, Netherlands. His second feature film
‘Putaani Party’ (The Kid Gang) won him the Best Children’s film at the Indian
National Film Awards, 2009. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Producer's Digital Note: The way this
works will be as follows - The movie is made available for free and for all interested.
If people find some value in it, we would appreciate if they could feel free to
contribute a donation, bank details are given in the vimeo link. (</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1a2e3b; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0.16px;">Account Name: Ramachandra PN. AC No: 0618101017313. IFSC CODE: CNRB0000618)</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">. If people are not in a
position to do so, we would appreciate the fact that you have spent your valuable
time in watching the movie. Such people can, if they feel like, drop in a word on the comment
section - either here or in vimeo. In either case, the request is to fill in with the good, the bad and the ugly of the movie. Wish
you an engaging watching experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">A review:</span><br />
<a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/on-pn-ramachandras-new-film-haal-e-kangaal/article8240495.ece">https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/on-pn-ramachandras-new-film-haal-e-kangaal/article8240495.ece</a><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><o:p><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="368" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/123477953" width="640"></iframe></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
If you want to share this movie the link is this</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://vimeo.com/123477953">https://vimeo.com/123477953</a></div>
Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-48618957561031113952020-03-24T07:32:00.002+05:302020-03-24T17:34:53.618+05:30Gully Boy - a disturbing perspective. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6TUUnmqdae4F71eo4sucJF7q_CyREJPzU9inXYYo-peo-rWKXTJcfGWdPwR_hhWzojZR0MleriX2K93XR6pqyZBopc-KCRNEuWohZqQzdi0Kl7nA313Bcp_uxaasp_mPeFn-r/s1600/safeena-social-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="825" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6TUUnmqdae4F71eo4sucJF7q_CyREJPzU9inXYYo-peo-rWKXTJcfGWdPwR_hhWzojZR0MleriX2K93XR6pqyZBopc-KCRNEuWohZqQzdi0Kl7nA313Bcp_uxaasp_mPeFn-r/s320/safeena-social-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A still from 'Gully Boy'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The last sequence of the movie 'Gully Boy'
shows the rising rap singer from the slums of Mumbai, walking up on to a
glittering stage, attended by various aides on his way, to face a cheering audience.
The lights illuminating the upstage area (the one furthest from the audience)
suddenly switches on to reveal a two dimensional cardboard cutout of a slum set, in front of which Gully
Boy is supposed to successfully rap.
That is when the end credits appear and that is when it struck me that 'Gully
Boy' the movie is just that - the voyeuristically captured 'harsh' and
'depressing' milieu of the Mumbai slums evident in the beginning of the movie before
even the plot begins to crawl, is just a cardboard cutout stage setting meant
to be where it is meant to be - in the background.</div>
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What is the foreground? The movie is
about an angst ridden rap singer who wants to escape up from the 'harsh' realities
of a class that he thinks he is struck in, on the strength and basis of his own talent. And
what are these 'harsh' realities? The man has an abusive father who brings home
a second wife as the first one is around and who nags him on the drop of a hat about
the money that he has spent on his education. There are other stereotypical
'harsh' realities shown in the movies - that the slum is a den of vices, of
orphans, of drug peddlers, of wife beating husbands, of submissive wives and regressive
mothers, of money fleecing grandmothers, of cheating lovers, of violent
friends, of lying children and all sort of life losers. Replace the word 'slum'
with the word 'Muslim' and the above sentence would still hold good. After a
point it looks over played and over scripted for a movie that ends up being in
the music competition genre. </div>
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Well, not that there were no 'feel good' characters
- the convincingly enacted independent minded ever benevolent lover (although
she is shown belong to the middle class, but from the same milieu), the helpful
slum friend of the rough and tough kind, the sharp fellow singer who first
notices Gully Boy's talent, the caring mother, the fan-girl step mother etc. All
these characters are supportive to Gully Boy in his quest for 'escaping up the
ladder' from the over scripted 'harsh' realities around him. And then there are
other upper class characters who actively aid and abet Gully Boy's personal pursuit
- fellow rapper's upper caste girl friend, the mysterious super rich foreign
returned music student who helps Gully Boy grow big with half hearted attempts
at portraying her as a societal rebel thrown in. They are the charitable ones
looking down from a pedestal pulling up the protagonist to their level, so to
say. </div>
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That in fact, what I think comes across
as the world view of the makers - that they like some of their 'top down
approach' characters are objectivizing and looking down benevolently at the slum which
they think is a den of vices, hardships and darkness; and from where people
need to be redeemed. This also probably explains why this move has done fairly
well in film festivals abroad; those that probably seek to look at India as the
'other' and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on the net whose primary
audience might be the middle and upper middle class herd who themselves look at
slums in similarly. The slum being relegated to the background as a two
dimensional cardboard stage cutout in the end - further away from the audience -
would seem like a visual manifestation of this world view. </div>
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There is one character in the movie which
had great potential to help the movie break away from this stereotypical
portrayal. Gully Boy in the initial part of the movie doubles up for his father
as a driver, where he encounters the daughter of his employer who does not want
to study and as he observes despite the class (and religion) difference is
probably as angst ridden as him. But like most of the other promising
characters in the movie, the makers unceremoniously abandon this one too. The graph of the committed girl
friend's character tapers when the rap competition begins; the foreign returned
music student is forgotten and thrown away from the screenplay after she provides a solid mid level push to Gully Boy's career, the father's character gets a
little meat only in the end where we come to know that he too is a looser in
this class war and that is when the Gully Boy gets to enact out the punchiest
dialogue in the movie - that he is a self made man. It looked that aspect
was injected into the father character only to let allow the protagonist to
utter the dialogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Disturbingly, it sure
is a use and throw approach to minor characters. </div>
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What we are left in the end is an effort
fully enacted male protagonist achieving his personal object at any cost. As
his father uses his second marriage citing sexually rigidity of his mother, he
too gets into a relationship with his benevolent upper class sympathizer to climb
up the ladder. As his drug peddler friend uses orphan children to further his business,
Gully Boy too makes use of the same to further his career. Gully Boy does not
even have the integrity to acknowledge that he too is a part of
the crime / misdeeds that he thinks others are indulging in. Neither do the makers do so. And again, disturbingly, Gully Boy is our hero. </div>
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All said and done Gully Boy, the movie, is
about pampering the patriarchy. It couldn't have been otherwise,
however I wished it did. Distressingly this has always been my theory - you
could help pass progressive laws in the parliament, you could make all the
right noises on social platforms and in their real life counterparts, but unless
you are pampering the overbearing phallic your movie does not even get made in the
mainstream cinema set up, not to mention of its release. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<br />Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-48000519065196150632020-03-23T09:56:00.002+05:302020-03-23T13:11:49.815+05:30The shaman, his tune and the rats.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiinX9PMec_iLxvG4j0kUvd76UU6BwDD_19yBwmA2l6yZ_sevgD1XxbaV27B-zzCEIlhiHUw5dRkof4zfAVTD0Zw8gi-z-p2kYoy3g03-4HXWMqfe2azpPsZYSEc1CYW85BQlkn/s1600/90544957_10157619117199724_8349688264789065728_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiinX9PMec_iLxvG4j0kUvd76UU6BwDD_19yBwmA2l6yZ_sevgD1XxbaV27B-zzCEIlhiHUw5dRkof4zfAVTD0Zw8gi-z-p2kYoy3g03-4HXWMqfe2azpPsZYSEc1CYW85BQlkn/s320/90544957_10157619117199724_8349688264789065728_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A boy with his steel plate</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The taali and thalli bajao is an expression in animism of the Indian public that is peeing in its pants, shit scared of an alien powerful force that is hard to control. The Pradhan Choukidar / Shaman has managed to direct people into this tribal ritual primarily for these reasons, it would seem.</div>
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<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; text-align: justify;">
1. He can later ask people for example to eat baked human shit if he convinces people that they are doing so for their own good and for the country.</div>
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<br /></div>
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2. More pertinently he shifts the responsibility of solving the issue in hand to the people themselves. By a mere collective animistic ritual we have now forgotten to ask questions as to what the government has done to tackle the issue - things like how are additional beds, ventilators and other respiratory machines, health care personnel, safety equipment are being managed; how is the money being managed for the next coming weeks when there might be a deluge of sick old people wanting medical attention. This is apart from other questions like the intelligence to foresee what is coming and getting prepared to it, especially when we knew about the Chinese experience two months back.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
The ritual came in very early, for we are just starting to feel the impact of phase three of the Covid 19 virus spread. <span style="font-family: inherit;">But who knows, when the impact hits us hard in the coming days, there might be a similar ritual, a grander one that would act as a bigger smoke screen. The Shaman (</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits) </span>has built in a foundation. </div>
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And I bet we would collectively oblige - like the rats in the Pied Piper story - by participating in the ritual in an ultra nationalistic fervor<span style="font-family: inherit;"> thinking that asking questions is politicizing things and is 'bad' for our own survival and that the Shaman knows the best.</span></div>
</div>
Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-73532131967325044432020-03-21T13:34:00.000+05:302020-03-21T13:40:38.136+05:3080% immunity rate !!!<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6b5bKTaE_nPlA82VaXayeobD_hLfS-YgodZFZ8yAAnSj-RMa5vSGGWKmJEo1jrm9fbB3fK2QEQ7jUCQWmmwb6LHNEaLfL6h2oLzGqm_yB7FCquJC2ilQcJEM0QYuOjtVuGfxK/s1600/89964186_10157612796694724_4393921873621024768_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6b5bKTaE_nPlA82VaXayeobD_hLfS-YgodZFZ8yAAnSj-RMa5vSGGWKmJEo1jrm9fbB3fK2QEQ7jUCQWmmwb6LHNEaLfL6h2oLzGqm_yB7FCquJC2ilQcJEM0QYuOjtVuGfxK/s320/89964186_10157612796694724_4393921873621024768_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A man peacefully sleeping in the times of COVID 19 virus.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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A doctor told me today that there are just about 1,50,000 testing kits in India to detect COVID 19 virus in the country. Each kit tests around 10 samples. And these kits are not made in India. For one, we had two whole months to get prepared since it the virus breached China, we just laughed at people who warned about the impending threat. In two months our preparation was only that much. Therefore we are relying on banging taalies and other theatrics.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
This virus is bound to spread and it spreads very rapidly than the other Corona viruses <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">that we have encountered in the past like SARS etc. But unlike the last time, the death rate with this virus is only about 2-3%. But since the infection rate is very high, even the three percent would weigh heavily on our (also the world) health care system.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, over the years thanks to the neo liberal politics that we have been witnessing the world over the public health system has been weakened, in favor of private players. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">If the public health care system was strong enough, we would have dealt with this threat effectively, probably without disrupting the economy to the extent that it is now threatening to do. Th</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">e world is now mitigating and spreading out the rate of infection over a period of time so that some time is bought to set our public health systems right.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Otherwise 80% of the infected persons suffer mild symptoms till the body becomes immune to the virus and that happens in the first 8 days of the infection. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Therefore in India we test for this virus only if the symptoms persist beyond 8 days. Which implies that our establishment seems to be okay with a large population getting infected as they would invariably develop immunity to it.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I basically see this as a failure of policy. Not hard to figure out who would benefit for such a 'failure'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br /></div>
Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-39629343138435049872020-03-04T07:04:00.001+05:302020-03-04T07:08:03.274+05:30India Now !!<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I6LUzyMQmfk" width="560"></iframe>Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-80188200813444339252020-02-22T10:46:00.002+05:302020-02-22T23:52:40.169+05:30What a mockery !!!!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCPdtx2i6G31okUQP4VYgLz8SNib3Y5K4RPyHnAAqFs4JvZ7ywTUA_gXmWUL_hlQCzO2szyGoIVfS8U-GtN44AmB25g5_r6ueNfrUDK3b2NRex-1lacUPwax4Rc74VKu6YdiuU/s1600/Amulya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCPdtx2i6G31okUQP4VYgLz8SNib3Y5K4RPyHnAAqFs4JvZ7ywTUA_gXmWUL_hlQCzO2szyGoIVfS8U-GtN44AmB25g5_r6ueNfrUDK3b2NRex-1lacUPwax4Rc74VKu6YdiuU/s320/Amulya.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amulya's photo from her social media wall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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One of Amulya Leona's social media posts explains
how wishing good for any other country does not mean that you wish your country
bad. In that post, she had raised the 'long live' slogans for all the neighboring countries;
maintaining that such slogans would not take away her duty to respect her own nation. A few days after the post, in a protest rally against CAA-NRC in Bengaluru, Amulya probably
wanted to explain this aspect to her audience. In what looks like a penchant for a 'bang on' opening remark she - almost sensationally - started of her speech
wishing 'Pakistan' good, saying 'Long live Pakistan'. She could have started
off by wishing well to say Bhutan or for that matter to India, as she did it on her social media
post. Unfortunately, she didn't.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
It was Asaduddin Owaisi's reaction that
first did her in. He wanted Amulya to stop her speech then and there for raising
that slogan and before she would go on to say 'Long live India' not once but
thrice. On the exact gesture of an organizer, a police officer dragged her away
from the stage, her mike taken away, as
she was trying to unsuccessfully explain what it means to wish good for
Pakistan and doing the same for India. Without even hearing her out fully, it
seems that Owaisi had already made up his mind that the nineteen year old
Amulya was pro Pakistan and therefore anti India! One hour later, that state of mind got transferred onto the entire country. A day later, it got itself transformed into the State arresting Amulya under 124A (Sedition), 153A (causing
hatred between different groups) & 153B (assertions prejudicial to national
integration) of Indian Penal Code. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
What a mockery of a situation this is !!!!</div>
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<br /></div>
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For section 124A to be applied the speech
/ action should give rise to or instigate an 'imminent lawless action'. For
one, where is the attempt to excite people to bring about to hate or contempt against the
government, that the section demand? Amulya
has said 'long Live Pakistan' and 'Log Live India'. There are two countries and
not Governments. Even if it is implied that Amulya has inferred to the respective governments,
where is the question of hate / contempt here? Unless it is erroneously and
foolishly assumed that by wishing well for a different country and its
government is actually wishing ill against one's own government!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Section 153A deals with promoting enmity between
groups on religious, language and other grounds. I fail to understand how
wishing another country well, along with wishing the same for one's own country
would promote enmity among people or groups. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do we as a people consider the people of Pakistan
our enemy? We are surely angry and disappointed by its government for not reigning
in its state actors and non state actors in bleeding India, but has India
officially declared Pakistan as an enemy state? Aren't we still dealing with
onions and electricity with our neighboring country and giving Adnan Sami our cherished citizenship? </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Section 153B deals with i<span style="background: white; color: black;">mputations and assertions prejudicial to
national-integration</span>. By no stretch of imagination shouting 'Long live Pakistan'
and 'Long Live India' or even asking people to shout the same would amount to
national disintegration, unless of course wishing well for Pakistan or even urging people to do the same would corrupt
the minds of gullible Indians to break their own country and its government. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: black;">What
a mockery of law this arrest is !!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
If Amulya was allowed to continue her speech on the stage,
she would probably have made her point well enough, which I would assume would probably have been the point
made by her on her social media post. There are news reports of rumors of Asaduddin
Owaisi and his party having secret pacts with the BJP for various electoral gains. Probably the Savarkar / Golwalkar bug filtered
down to various sections of the susceptible people of India via the Sangh
mechanisms has also got into Asaduddin Owaisi's system, so much so that he reacted
the way he did on stage. The episode stink is more of Owaisi's anxiety to prove that he
is Indian. Pity that it has come down to that. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
As for as the ruling dispensation goes,
Amulya off late has been a strong youth voice of the pro constitution, anti CAA
voice in Karnataka - never afraid to take on the Sangh Parivar at various
levels. It would do immense benefit to the Parivar if this voice is jailed and
silenced - albeit for a while till the courts take up the matter. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Besides, it would be a perfect extended smoke screen for the economic mess that we are in now and our inability to cope up with it.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
What a mockery of a mind this is !!!!</div>
<br />Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-55816580959834723682020-02-05T10:43:00.001+05:302020-02-06T10:56:07.015+05:30The Ghost of Shaheen Bagh<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD1UX5vn-QV57cgOLyUKx0INqJFAeOLs8t3zbL4XaMxZN9RBGbjvpo-3SZSnhK_uhbty9h27D82-V4aAyH-rrW6OdqtDaZJJhbEtMO3YKxIEt3ROI2IhMktoSn0eEsced3wb14/s1600/main-qimg-26d7c455581e55fa1726d99b92b66b87.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="412" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD1UX5vn-QV57cgOLyUKx0INqJFAeOLs8t3zbL4XaMxZN9RBGbjvpo-3SZSnhK_uhbty9h27D82-V4aAyH-rrW6OdqtDaZJJhbEtMO3YKxIEt3ROI2IhMktoSn0eEsced3wb14/s320/main-qimg-26d7c455581e55fa1726d99b92b66b87.jpg" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gandhi arrested under Sedition Laws</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Section 124 (a) of the Indian Penal Code
deals with Sedition. It states - Whoever, by words, either spoken or written,
or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to
bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection
towards,</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;"> </span></sup><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">the
Government established by law in</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;"> </span></sup><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">India, shall be punished with</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;"> </span></sup><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">imprisonment for life,
to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three
years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u>This section gives three explanations.</u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Explanation 1.—The expression “disaffection”
includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Explanation 2.—Comments expressing
disapprobation of the measures of the Government with a view to obtain their
alteration by lawful means, without exciting or attempting to excite hatred,
contempt or disaffection, do not constitute an offence under this section. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Explanation 3.—Comments expressing
disapprobation of the administrative or other action of the Government without
exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not
constitute an offence under this section.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The section read with the explanations would
define sedition as any communication done that would cause hatred and contempt;
or would rouse disaffection towards the Government of the country through a
call for (violent) activity. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Recently separate F.I.Rs was
filed against activist and research scholar Sharjeel <em><span style="font-style: normal;">Imam by five states Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Arunachal
Pradesh, Assam and Delhi citing this sedition section for a speech he made in
Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. The relevant portions of the translated speech where
Imam is addressing a few research scholars / University students are as follows.
The context is the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by the Parliament
that, for the first time, makes religion as a criteria for citizenship.</span></em></span></span></div>
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</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let me give you an example of Bihar, there
are huge rallies being held there, every other day. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In Kannaiya's rally itself there were
around five lakhs of people. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Please note that if five lakh people
are with us, we can permanently cut India and North East. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not permanently, but surely we can cut
them off for at least a couple of months. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dump so much material (?) on the
tracks, that it would take months for them to clear them</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let them go by air force.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is our responsibility to cut Assam
from the rest of India. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is only then that they will listen
to us. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You are aware of the position of the
Muslims in Assam. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">CAA is already passed, lives are
already being lost in detention camps. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is an open massacre there. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Within a six odd months, we could hear
that all Bengalis are killed - Hindus or
Muslims. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To help Assam, we have to block roads for
the Army; and for any other supplies that go in there. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We sure can do it, because that area
called the chicken neck is a Muslim area. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">People like Kannaiyaa will make them
shout slogans, will pose for photos and come back. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The claps (?) will be from our people,
but the face will be his; this is not productive.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Remember, if the people are angry,
then it is our responsibility to chanalise that anger productively rather than
waste it in photo secessions. .</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Was Sharjeel Imam expressing a '<span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">disapprobation'
(strong disapproval) and 'disaffection' (feeling of being dissatisfied) towards
of the 'measures of the Government', as per explanations to the section 124A?
Yes, indeed he was. The </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Shreya Singhal</span><em><span style="background: white; font-style: normal;"> Vs Union of India Case judgment
defines three concepts in Free Speech - 'discussion', 'advocacy' and
'incitement'. If the later two reach the level of incitement such that public
order or sovereignty of state is threatened, then it is unlawful. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">Was </span>Sharjeel Imam exciting
'disloyalty' or 'feelings of enmity' against the state<span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">, as per explanations to
the section 124A</span>? Going by the gist of his speech, the predominant thing
that is being communicated by him to the people around him was the need for
them to 'do' something so that the their (Muslim) voices could be heard by 'their'
own government.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Was <span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sharjeel <em><span style="font-style: normal;">Imam 'exciting' or 'trying to excite' people to a
certain 'hatred', 'contempt', </span></em></span>'<span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">disapprobation'</span><em><span style="background: white; font-style: normal;"> or 'disaffection' towards
the Government of the day, as per section 124A? None of the seventeen sentences
suggest that he was doing so. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact as
manifested in sentence 8 of Shrajeel Imam, the intention was to get the
government to bring about an 'alteration' to its 'measures' - in this case the
CAA - in accordance with explanation 2 of Section 124A. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em><span style="background: white; font-style: normal;">Was
Sharjeel Imam trying to bring about an 'alternation' to the 'measures' of the
Government by 'unlawful means' such as putting the 'sovereignty of state' at
stake? Well, i</span></em>n sentence 3 he does speak about cutting Assam
permanently from India, but quickly in the next few sentences (4,5, and 6) corrects
himself and modifies his idea into which supplies to Assam would be cut off for
three to four months by blocking the roads and tracks; but not the airways. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em><span style="background: white; font-style: normal;">Was
Sharjeel Imam trying to bring about an 'alternation' to the 'measures' of the
Government by 'unlawful means' such as using or propagating violent means that
it would affect 'public order'? There is nothing in this translated paragraph
that would suggest that. Since prior to this paragraph, Sharjeel Imam is seen condemning
the violence of both the Left wing and Right Wing student groups, it would be
fair to assume that he was not suggesting a violent blockage. </span></em><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are two aspects to sedition. One -
the communication proposes to instigate hatred and contempt against the
government. Two - it <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>leads to people to
take up violence or create public disorder. <em><span style="background: white; font-style: normal;">Sharjeel
Imam's speech however provocative it might sound to some, fails on both these counts. Why then has five F.I.R.s been filed against him by five different Indian states? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<em><span style="background: white; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Has it anything to do with the fact that these five states are either ruled by B.J.P. and its allies or have the home ministry under its control? It is said that Sharjeel Imam
was one of the chief organisers of the long drawn Shaheen Bagh peaceful protests.
Nip the thorn in your flesh, at its bud. Until the courts decide if it is sedition
or not; a persistent voice against your ideology has been immobilized, put behind
bars. </span></span></em><br />
<em><span style="background: white; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></em>
<em><span style="background: white; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-----</span></span></em><br />
<em><span style="background: white; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></em>
<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You can get to know more about Sedition laws in India on a consultation paper on sedition commissioned by the Law Commission of India, <a href="http://www.lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/reports/CP-on-Sedition.pdf" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </span></span></div>
<br />Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-71446865547162304882020-02-03T09:27:00.000+05:302020-02-03T09:30:14.066+05:30Long live formal content !!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJn3cmgz1cKzN9_0I90gMVuucAv5EaZAXnSRlzPSRLhc2AgBbXSHViA-HEcykE8BEEmWYzVWFuBhvtDfdjhRqKQgmekXOWmWdJDjExuP9ha7tR0udeSwfW1gd2YR4GOh_ZaM-/s1600/Docu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="659" data-original-width="614" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJn3cmgz1cKzN9_0I90gMVuucAv5EaZAXnSRlzPSRLhc2AgBbXSHViA-HEcykE8BEEmWYzVWFuBhvtDfdjhRqKQgmekXOWmWdJDjExuP9ha7tR0udeSwfW1gd2YR4GOh_ZaM-/s320/Docu.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
<br />
Over
the last few years some of us, in our honorary capacities, have off and on been
involved in the selection, script and rough cut evaluation process at Films
Division, India's prime organisation that makes documentary films. In this
process we have been active witnesses to many a concept being turned into
insipid movies. I mainly fear that this is primarily due to the fact that we
have a default form of building up a documentary movie imbibed into our blood
streams - the one that has a 'god's voice' of a narrator guiding us in a
predetermined manner or off late the one that endlessly 'observers' and 'follows'
the main characters at times to their death bed. Yet, a few of the
documentaries commissioned by Films Division had stood out to me for their
sheer brilliance of form, ie... the innovative way in which the content has
been narrated. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I would
mention a few made in the last two-three years that were experiential in nature;
and have also broken new formal frontiers, vis-à-vis its content - Meera
Dewan's 'Baba Farid' a documentary on the life, times and works of the Sufi mystic
and the audio-visual treat that it is; <span class="il"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">Pradipta</span></span><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"> Bhattacharya's 'Shikoor' that is a fair representation of the
perfomative mode of documentary film making as its dwells into the quest of the
movie maker in his attempt to get a hold on his hybrid roots; </span>Swati
Dandekar's 'Neeli Raag' that dwells into a few indigenous natural indigo dye
makers with a high degree of melancholy with a unique one of a kind structure and
Saudamini's 'Nadi Smriti' that has flux as its core theme as it looks at how
the concept of the word Sawaswati whose being represented the once concrete
physical river got morphed into representing myth, music, learning,
spirituality etc... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">None of
these films rich in content and innovative in form - are in the present version
of MIFF (Mumbai International Film Festival for documentary, shorts and
animation). There would have been a multi level process involved and in a
particular scheme of things, these films didn't fit in. Maybe we still haven't flushed
off <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the dominant documentary movie constructing
mode out of our collective blood streams and thus our systems. It might not
just be the politics of content that is keeping a few documentaries out of film
festivals, the politics of their form too hardly seems to be cherished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-54710603387569354232019-12-21T21:19:00.001+05:302019-12-21T21:19:09.012+05:30Religion and Citizenship<div class="_1dwg _1w_m _q7o" data-vc-ignore-dynamic="1" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding: 12px 12px 0px;">
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The amendment to the Indian Citizenship Act 2019 lets minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to become Indian citizens. While justifying the Indian Citizenship amendment Act, it is often sad that the three countries are theocratic states and that because it is so it is assumed that the 'minorities' are persecuted. This assumption might be flawed.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; text-align: justify;">
The "honorable" theoretical assumption that the Constitution of Bangladesh does not treat all religions equally on effect of the state having its own stated religion is far from truth.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
Clause 2A of the Constitution of Bangladesh states: The state religion of the Republic is Islam, but the State shall ensure equal status and equal right in the practice of the Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and other religions.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
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<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
Further Part 2, Section 12 is on Secularism and freedom of religion. I<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">t states: The principle of secularism shall be realised by the elimination of - (a) communalism in all its forms ; (b) the granting by the State of political status in favour of any religion ; (c) the abuse of religion for political purposes ; (d) any discrimination against, or persecution of, persons practicing a particular religion.</span></div>
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If at all it is theoretically assumed that the Constitution of Bangladesh breeds religious persecution / inequality, then what about the Constitution of Sri Lanka? Chapter 2, clause 9 of the Sri Lankan Constitution states: "The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana, while assuring to all religions the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
Here too the republic of Sri Lanka gives Buddha Shasana (Buddhist rule) the foremost place. Isn't it then imperative that I also theoretically assume that that the constitution of Sri Lanka too like the Constitution of Bangladesh breeds religious persecution / inequality?</div>
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<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
If so, can you be having one set of logic for one country and another set for the other? Wouldn't the minorities in Bangladesh and the minorities in Sri Lanka be equal among equals? If so, is the classification in the CAA justifiable and non arbitrary?</div>
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Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-8500932069741463272019-12-21T21:09:00.000+05:302019-12-21T21:09:53.675+05:30Demonetization of Citizenship.<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyL9s-rM-MIHo49gl077iNpGFJdNJwrPh1up8sG5Lfx2s_KBNpYdVEDq523UwHmne57OhgISVVt0fh2ZaC_PrMJx071yxM11pYMgONx4rnxk06XQ8Z7LDgVmCFhj9PobqAFeig/s1600/NO.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="203" data-original-width="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyL9s-rM-MIHo49gl077iNpGFJdNJwrPh1up8sG5Lfx2s_KBNpYdVEDq523UwHmne57OhgISVVt0fh2ZaC_PrMJx071yxM11pYMgONx4rnxk06XQ8Z7LDgVmCFhj9PobqAFeig/s1600/NO.png" /></a></div>
<br />
On an apparent level CAA seems to be independent. It wants convert Hindu, Parsi, Christian, Buddhist and Jain (and not others) illegal immigrants / refugees from the Islamic states of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan into Indian citizens with a 2014 cut off date. The National Population Register (NPR) is a list of usual residents in India (people who have been residing in India for six months or those who have intention of staying). The National Register of Citizenship (NRC) is a list of all citizens of India. The law says that to have the NRC, the basis of it will be NPR.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
In the process of making NPR / NRC there will be lakhs of names that will not get into the list because of name mismatch, lack of documents etc. rendering genuine citizens of India nation less. I would assume the CAA would facilitate the hand picked Hindu, Parsi, Christian, Buddhist and Jain (and not other) settlers from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan among those identified as foreigners, to become Indian citizens with a cut off date of 2014.<br />
<br />
For Assam the cut off date according to the 1985 Assam Accord was 1971. For the rest of the country it was 1948. Now with CAA for Assam too it will be 2014. What stops a majoritarian govt. from pushing this cut off date further down the line for a selective inclusion of religions camouflaged as minority groups?<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
What would most probably happen to to these large number of people who have been left out of the NRC? Deportation would be far and few, as the other country should first accept them as their citizens and India should prove such a thing? How would you prove the nationality of an religiously persecuted illegal immigrant who has most probably traveled into India with out any documents? In all eventuality, those who have not made it into the list would be staying in special camps meant for the purpose and would also be taken off the voting list.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Why would this regime want to have such a scenario? Since CAA provides a safety net for non Muslims, it would be the Muslims (mainly from Bangladesh) who would have no voting rights, which they had hitherto in Assam and in West Bengal. In simple terms this is called voter suppression. And as things stands today, which party would likely to be benefited by the increase in non Muslim voters? Obviously the party which is hell bent on implementing CAA. In simple terms it could be termed as voter encouragement. So, it boils down to vote bank politics. It is in the interests of the ruling regime to keep the issue down to religion, rather than giving the edge to regional West Bengal parties who would want it to be a language issue.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
In the recently held lit fest in Mangalore, the RSS trouble shooter and BJP party's general secretary as the sangh nominee told the audience in an seminar on demographic issues that these days population explosion is no longer seen as a threat. It is how you use it to your advantage that matters. He probably was talking about this very thing.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
Another real issue is in this NPR / NRC exercise how are they going to deal with those genuine names which would be missing n the list. The exercise in Assam tells us that there would be many many of them, irrespective of their religion. In NPR, the information is collected in our door step. Where is in NRC, the onus is on us to apply for the list and prove our citizenship. it would seem like till such time that our names are included the NRC, no single soul in India will be its citizen. So, be prepared to stand in long ques in the coming years. It is the demonetization time for citizenship</div>
Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-23499822103161099952019-12-12T13:38:00.000+05:302019-12-17T17:11:30.321+05:30Thoughts on the Citizenship Amendment Bill<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Article 14 of the Indian Constitution
deals with equality before law. It states "<span style="background: white;">The State shall not deny to any person equality before the
law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India
Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place
of birth</span>."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This does not mean that a classification
or division cannot be made amongst the people in the process of making any law. We can, for example, make a law for only for the Hindus, like the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) Act and make it not applicable to a Christian. Article 14 does not allow what is
called 'Class legislation' - which means that you cannot apply the HUF Act to
all Hindus who are having five children and not otherwise.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">While presenting
the Citizenship Amendment Act in the Loka Sabha, Home Minister declared that the
classification or distinction made amongst the people for the purpose of the bill
is - paraphrasing him - <span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21;">"Religiously
persecuted minorities of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Jain and Christian
religions in Muslim theocratic states that share immediate border with India</span>".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For any classification or distinction
to be made as per Article 14, it has to go through three standards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1. The
classification should be justifiable and reasonable. Is the bill's
classification justifiable? To be called so, there has to be an intelligible differentiation
between those included and excluded. The purview of 'persecuted religious minorities' mentioned in this act includes most major religions, except Muslims. The logic given is that Muslims
cannot be a minority in a Muslim theocratic Muslim state. This is not a
justifiable classification, as sub groups within the larger Muslim religious group like
the Sunni and the Amadiays are persecuted religiously both in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Bill does not consider them as 'religious minorities'. This is not
justifiable or reasonable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2. The classification
should have a rational object. The object of providing dignity to the religiously
prosecuted is perfectly rational. Providing dignity to selective minorities who
are religiously prosecuted in their countries of origin is not. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3. The classification
should not be Arbitrary. For what purpose is the condition 'sharing the
border with India' exists? If it is so, why not include Sri Lanka Myanmar and other
countries that India shares its border with? The logic given by the Home Minister while debating on the bull in the Parliament is that the classification is done on the basis that the counties are theocratic in nature of the Muslim religion. On what basis is the criteria of 'only Muslim
theocratic states' being selected? Is there no religious prosecution in non Muslim
theocratic states and non Muslim states which give constitutional preference to
a Non Muslim religion? If the Bill assumes that there is no persecution non
Muslim theocratic stated, it is arbitrary in nature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">On television interviews, Adv. Harish Salve, as always, defending the State mentions that the intelligible differentia
is that the three countries selected by the Bill are Islamic states sharing a common past
heritage with India. If it is so, it would seem that Islam religion is the basis for
this criteria and classification. It is presumptuous to assume that persecution happens only in states whose religion in Muslim. Adv. Salve conveniently terms this distinction as a matter of government policy. What sort of government policy is this that brings an amendment to a law based on this unintelligent assumption?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The majority in the Indian Parliament seems to think that
this religious classification has a reasonability to it - ie... if they ever have given a
thought to it before voting. </span><span style="background-color: white;">It would be interesting
to see what the Supreme Court will decide on this, if an when it decides. </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-31590669263543234602019-06-13T18:57:00.002+05:302019-06-14T09:15:53.635+05:30Karnad, Bendre and Kuleshov...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE6tk4yYJe3CrWwX7RZ8ohzaJ9e6YHPdqoi3T8keWRvy3iH6Cjk-FvteaQxJgkrh2ItyVyK9Ei8Fjq5vhPIYlHLh59E5WRO9jswtFNUbI0jMOjzoS0EcCB8Gxqru2SaYvLE_E5/s1600/Karnad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE6tk4yYJe3CrWwX7RZ8ohzaJ9e6YHPdqoi3T8keWRvy3iH6Cjk-FvteaQxJgkrh2ItyVyK9Ei8Fjq5vhPIYlHLh59E5WRO9jswtFNUbI0jMOjzoS0EcCB8Gxqru2SaYvLE_E5/s400/Karnad.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Girish Karnad</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Girish
Karnad made his documentary film 'D R Bendre' (Da. Ra. Bendre) in the year 1972,
fifty years after Robert Flaherty made one of the first long documentary
narratives in USA called 'Nanook of the North'. Flaherty's silent film had, over
an entire season, captured the life of Nanook and his family in the hostile
terrain of the arctic. The film claimed to be anthropological in nature, shows us
the 'reality' of the Eskimo community. But it is obvious that events shown in
the film were staged, not by using professional actors but by deploying 'real'
life characters and 'real' locations.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Forty three years before Karnad made 'D R Bendre', Dziga
Vertov filmed 'The Man with the Movie Camera' in the erstwhile Soviet Union,
portraying a day in the life of a city. This silent film is a representative of what is called the 'Kino-Pravada' group of films made by Dziga
Vertov and his associates. In Russia 'Kino' means eye and 'Pravada', 'truth'. Dizga
Vertov went out on the streets with his equipment to capture fragments of 'actuality'
and then edited them into a rhythm to create a newly constructed 'truth' that he
claimed was not visible to the naked eye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The involvement of the constructor was never hidden. <br />
<br /></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_xd4dflXvgo/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_xd4dflXvgo?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Full film without subtitles</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Twelve years before 'D R Bendre' was made, Edgar
Morin and Jean Rouch, having access to new light weight camera and sound
equipment went into the streets of Paris to ask people if they were happy. The
film they made out of such footage is called 'Chronicles of a Summer'; it uses
the 'Cinema Verite' style of film making, verite is <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>'truth' in French. The usage of available
lights, location sound and an extremely active involvement of the directors who
showed themselves up on film to actively guide its course marked the <span style="background: white; color: #222222;">salient features</span> of this style. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And finally three years before Karnad made 'D
R Bendre', in 1969 Albert and David Maysles came up with a documentary film
called 'The Salesmen' in USA, which is seen as a representative film of 'Direct
Cinema'. It has a style where the camera and the mike quietly observed the life
around them, without an active interference of the directors; it was as if the
directors were a fly on the wall looking at 'reality' a<span style="background: white; color: #0f0f0f;"> </span> from <span style="background: white; color: #0f0f0f;">a </span>distance. The film <span style="background: white; color: #0f0f0f;">unobtrusively</span> followed the lives
of a few coffee book table bible salesmen engaged by the church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The history of documentary movie making
in fact is the history of how we look at the 'real' or how we are getting into
the 'truth' in the making process. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Satish Bahadhur, the father of post
independence Indian film appreciation courses, used to show Karnad's 'D R Bendre' in
the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>courses that he used to conduct at Heggodu
village in Karnataka during the early eighties. I first saw the film in once such course. I am not sure if the idea of showing hte film came from Bahadur saab or from K V. Subanna, the main force behind the Heggodu cultural
experiment that included not only the film appreciation courses, but also a
theater institute, a theater repertory and a publishing house. An analysis of a
film on a local poet made by a local film director who is also a towering
literary figure actually helps. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULLbDWBaRuCVLS100z3bxdvhuWF6P9tCW5qlveXhEsyyZN5RuMydOspnZxy0WETJOiLsux4LuBv7i6AyATAgngvxTTRW51HjFk6PJqv0W1cNr84U3T1t_jjrzFuCxXHeRjL1L/s1600/DR+BENDRE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="384" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULLbDWBaRuCVLS100z3bxdvhuWF6P9tCW5qlveXhEsyyZN5RuMydOspnZxy0WETJOiLsux4LuBv7i6AyATAgngvxTTRW51HjFk6PJqv0W1cNr84U3T1t_jjrzFuCxXHeRjL1L/s320/DR+BENDRE.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Da Ra Bendre, the Kannada poet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The film 'D R Bendre' is a short introduction to
the master Kannada poet Dattatraya Ramchandra Bendre. It follows what documentary
film theoretician Bill Nichols calls the oft used 'expository' mode of film making. Expository is 'intended to explain or describe
something'. This mode of documentary film making is about a hundred years old,
and over the years it has become the default form for documentaries. Many a film maker, including
yours truly, is guilty of getting sucked into this dominant mode of expression
of documentary movie making. This mode normally contains a point of view or an
argument that is most often voiced by a 'god like' narrator who is spoon
feeding the audience. This view point is seen as the 'reality' that is being portrayed. Girish Karnad himself is this 'god like' narrator in 'D R
Bendre'. Everything else - the visuals and the sounds - supplements the
argument that this voice makes.</div>
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<br /></div>
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For the record, the voice-over is written
by Keertinath Kurthakoti. It seems to be of high literary value and the same
could probably be read on a stage as an introduction to D R Bendre, in any
seminar on him, as a short essay. It is also no coincidence that the expository
mode of documentary film making is also sometimes called an essay film. The argument
made through the narration in this film follows this regular pattern - an
introduction to the topography of Dharwad, Bendre's place in the unique
multicultural world of Dharwad, Bendre's childhood, Bendre's inspirations in
life for his poetry, the mixture of the two cultures of Marathi and Kannada
imbibed within Bendre, Bendre's family life, his messy immediate personal
lifestyle accompanied by his varied subject interests, the manifestation of the concept of motherhood in his
work and finally, Bendre's poetic worldview. Except for the last part which is
in Bendre's own voice in the form of an interview, everything else is guided
through the 'godly' voice-over. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Within this line of argument and prodding
them up are the rest of the elements in the film that runs for about nineteen
minutes. The opening shots are of a young boy who is crudely humming a popular Bendre poem almost to himself as he herds his cows amidst the wide landscape of rural
Dharwad. Just when you think that you could be in for some 'real' stuff of the
Dziga Vertov kind, there comes the next cut which is a zoom back from a
gramophone playing the same song in a small tea stall. Although the transition
is effective, it is evident that the whole thing is a staged set up a la 'Nanook of
the North'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This shot sets the tone for
the rest of the film. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSOwSmr5fDlc8JrZC_4ds_9xsyNULBYY0J1R0-IyNB3NnA09FWXuJaqYEMail_nZnm9UNj_6A-Q21F2xL3UeugO2hlDaX9kEASRGAy3rk3iCyaHe_EOlnrGL5xx-0oxYyusxkg/s1600/Boy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="375" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSOwSmr5fDlc8JrZC_4ds_9xsyNULBYY0J1R0-IyNB3NnA09FWXuJaqYEMail_nZnm9UNj_6A-Q21F2xL3UeugO2hlDaX9kEASRGAy3rk3iCyaHe_EOlnrGL5xx-0oxYyusxkg/s320/Boy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Opening Sequence</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The mobility and liberation of the camera
that we see in the first cowherd
sequence, in the landscape shots of Dharwad, or in the shots in its market
area quickly vanishe as the film progress. All of them, ably shot by the ace camera person
Govind Nihalani, look conceptually planned to the tee and thus, rigid. They could well have been shot with multiple instructions being given to the 'real' actors who are playing themselves in 'real' locations. It is
to the credit of Vikas Desai and Aruna Raje, the duo that edited this film on a
crude editing machine called 'Union Table' at their house in Mumbai, that the
overtly voice over based film is spaced out with sequences where we could just
dwell on to grasp the beauty of the landscape, of the public spaces like
markets, the town lanes, of the rains etc. Karnad also used Bendre's own poems to punctuate the narrations - some in his own voice, some
professionally sung and some in Bendre's voice. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Also filling up the gaps in the
voice-overs is the overwhelming and overbearing music composed by
Bhaskar Chandravarkar; it fills up the audio track when there are no poem recitations or all knowing narrations. The few places where there are no music are sequences which have sync
sound - mainly when we see Bendre talking about his poems or reciting them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Otherwise, the element of atmospheric
sounds seem to be entirely missing in the film. Chandravarkar's music - albeit
pleasing - almost conceptually covers up for the lack of these sounds. How one longed to hear the
sound of the mooing cows, the chirping birds, the shouting children, the
running cart, the flowing stream, the thundering rains etc... when the visuals lent
themselves to such audio usage. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
In the film appreciation course that I attended in Heggodu some thirty five years back, Satish Bahadhur and I
think even Subanna spoke highly about one particular sequence in 'D R Bendre'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I shall call the sequence the 'mango vendor
sequence'. It was termed as the cinematic highlight of the film. After the voice-over bestows on us information on how Bendre used to take inspiration from the day to day people that he met to write his poems, Karnad plays a pre recorded
Bendre poem as the background music. A rough translation is given below.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ಟೊಂಕದ</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ಮ್ಯಾಲ</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ಕೈಯಿಟಗೊಂಡ</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ಬಿಂಕದಾಕಿ</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ಯಾರ</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ಇಕಿ (</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Who is this damsel who has her hands
on her waist ? </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">ವಂಕಿ</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">ತೋಳ</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">ತೋರಸತಾಳ ಸುಂಕದ</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">ಕಟ್ಟೆವಂಗ</span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">She
who is <span style="background: white; color: #222222;">showing off her arms
adorned with armlets to the collector..)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ಎಣ್ಣಾ</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ಮಾವ</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ಅನಕೋತ ಬಣ್ಣದ</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ಮಾತನಾಡಕೋತ (</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She who sweetly speaks using words like
brother and uncle..)</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "tunga" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">ಕಣ್ಣಾಗ</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "tunga" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">ಮಣ್ಣ</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "tunga" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">ತೂರುವಾಕಿ</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "tunga" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">ಸಣ್ಣನ</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "tunga" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">ನಡದಾಕಿ</span> </span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She whose has a slender midriff pulls the wool over one's eyes... </span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "tunga" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr2-ymeRDlzxRCHm2mbkiMwh6n2X5Ga2ER1-U1IsrUmXgBwpj01LKBVgxEgrQWPBAC91dLUjlVwNZHLk528Oj9aCyRnT89BqXGZUfM_yKFPPj9gFCtDV1AipUPIsOlQEL_X1W8/s1600/Song+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="381" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr2-ymeRDlzxRCHm2mbkiMwh6n2X5Ga2ER1-U1IsrUmXgBwpj01LKBVgxEgrQWPBAC91dLUjlVwNZHLk528Oj9aCyRnT89BqXGZUfM_yKFPPj9gFCtDV1AipUPIsOlQEL_X1W8/s200/Song+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The reality</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2bvqXPTfZ3mp1HcE-5FQfbfzOC__RivIWCEW7kOO7p06avKdMGLVjuSS1dGfkvF8RXKgxGWjf5JFaRlTDXAhecbcZ5LivR6l8PvJd1gUHbUbhsVmGwHxcmdeH5hzv5Ci83zW1/s1600/Song+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="384" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2bvqXPTfZ3mp1HcE-5FQfbfzOC__RivIWCEW7kOO7p06avKdMGLVjuSS1dGfkvF8RXKgxGWjf5JFaRlTDXAhecbcZ5LivR6l8PvJd1gUHbUbhsVmGwHxcmdeH5hzv5Ci83zW1/s200/Song+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The imagination</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
At his house gate Bendre is talking to a middle
aged rustic lady mango vendor who is filmed in the harshness of the afternoon natural light. This
deftly edited sequence does not use sync sound, so we just assume that that the
conversation that they are having is for a possible mango sale. Instead of the sync sound, the pre recorded song
of the above poem is used over these visuals. And suddenly, in a jiffy of an
editing cut, the 'real' middle aged rustic lady vendor who is lowering her mango
basket onto the ground becomes a well lit elegant 'imaginary' young lady who
enticingly is showing off her mangoes - in close ups and extreme close ups - to
Bendre. These shots are inter-cut with mid shots of Bendre who is looking at the
'imaginary' lady, it would seem for quite some time. After a few seconds, the young lady picks
her basket and again in a jiffy of an editing cut, we see the 'real' middle
aged rustic lady walk away with her basket. The poem ends.<br />
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="text-align: justify;">R</span>ealistically, Bendre in his mid shots has no expression whatsoever on his face. It seems as though he was asked to look in a particular direction while the shot was taken, and that he did so. However since these these shots of Bendre are edited with the sensuous 'imaginary' lady looking longingly at him, it unintentionally looks as if Bendre is 'ogling' at the female fruit vendor. About a century ago, Soviet film maker Lev Kuleshov once filmed an actor who had no expression on his face. He then edited the same shot separately with a beautiful girl, a dead body and a plate of soup. The audience interpreted the sequences as the actor expressing lust, sorrow and hunger
respectively. Bendre unwittingly had becomes a part of Karnad's (unintended?) Kuleshov
experiment.</div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: both; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman"; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; orphans: 2; padding: 6px; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLLfGmiLkCcwiyrg3K6OgERplSYS1DO-AcXe2ujKMRLvRd3Vpj2HBZan431hDv6WuCN7klTiAgWm03pM_GZFlo-ZmAltazLXf5WxCrj1AZTqRjFOkoqb7Vj97GVyvhyM_GHNqq/s1600/S1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="377" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLLfGmiLkCcwiyrg3K6OgERplSYS1DO-AcXe2ujKMRLvRd3Vpj2HBZan431hDv6WuCN7klTiAgWm03pM_GZFlo-ZmAltazLXf5WxCrj1AZTqRjFOkoqb7Vj97GVyvhyM_GHNqq/s200/S1.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">Shot 1</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBzbq0kbWcUtmJJ48gaIsDR8ZbSig3dhZomekZ-bGBRH_TO4_-kYYJYyQKKJe80Cr5tJ0Xd8HkBr4bSeP3iXM18LrSuqbPR-BGWZiNi7jimqUfWly9Iiyp_7ScJxhR8FGyx6jg/s1600/s2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="384" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBzbq0kbWcUtmJJ48gaIsDR8ZbSig3dhZomekZ-bGBRH_TO4_-kYYJYyQKKJe80Cr5tJ0Xd8HkBr4bSeP3iXM18LrSuqbPR-BGWZiNi7jimqUfWly9Iiyp_7ScJxhR8FGyx6jg/s200/s2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Shot 2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEQUD4zCYSV0kOv7BKXnZd675bY4jqzE8EJs_IFoxQNQLorVd-GXMoLaYXbtQFJX2Z4zUyPE9Kk74HoDuKiOwfW8HVKv1jQeUJM8MzMAqvtHY13NTsNIdl_vkpRZMzk9rlu3uj/s1600/S3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="378" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEQUD4zCYSV0kOv7BKXnZd675bY4jqzE8EJs_IFoxQNQLorVd-GXMoLaYXbtQFJX2Z4zUyPE9Kk74HoDuKiOwfW8HVKv1jQeUJM8MzMAqvtHY13NTsNIdl_vkpRZMzk9rlu3uj/s200/S3.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Shot 3</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
That apart, as the film's co-editor Aruna
Raje opines, the picturisation of the song does not do justice to the rich imagery
that the poem itself evokes. Abstract words, having concrete signs and meanings, have
immense possibilities of imagery when placed together in a certain way. In
cinema, the images themselves are concrete, and thus they have a definite fix to them.
The signs themselves are the meanings, so to say. By the means of the devices Karnad has used to shoot the poem, has fixed his imagery / interpretation of the song
and thus limited himself to one particular evocation that creates an 'ogling' Bendre. And I am not getting into the ethics of assigning non existing
intentions to real life people and portraying them as 'real'.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Karnad's 'D R Bendre' is a constructed
reality like 'The Man with the Movie Camera', but it does not have the rigor of
the cinematic language that the latter has. Karnad's 'D R Bendre' aped the
shooting techniques of 'Nanook of the North' in terms of its re-enactment with real
characters to suggest the 'real', however it does not have the depth that latter has.
Karnad's 'D R Bendre' is not observational in nature like 'The Salesmen'. Karnad guides the narrative of 'D R Bendre',
but unlike the directors of 'The Cornicals of a Summer' and 'The Man with a Movie Camera', he
does not come to the foreground and own up such a thing. In other words, he does not overtly state that
the reality that he is showing is his reality. It is thus implied that what he is actually showing is 'the' reality. That is an inherent danger of the 'expository mode'
or the 'essay film'. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
May be Bill Nichols was just trying to
formulate his theory on documentary film making while Karnad was making 'D R
Bendre'. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Poem Transcription: Jayalakshmi Patil. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-8198900550187958962019-06-04T19:46:00.000+05:302019-06-05T09:15:52.591+05:30In the realm of 'WILL' and 'SHOULD'.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiYrjEuygKyQliNH-VCB9rZZ0bwXg_znvWbUgtY516n7zOxQkYxwcP4crn6WiAdoznbSx9YW_E7XGrVNxrFANf4HNOs4qjeUfe3-b-gSya6Fuxl_zVUWFiTENtRFZpDSrEWKO/s1600/Draft+Policy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1109" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiYrjEuygKyQliNH-VCB9rZZ0bwXg_znvWbUgtY516n7zOxQkYxwcP4crn6WiAdoznbSx9YW_E7XGrVNxrFANf4HNOs4qjeUfe3-b-gSya6Fuxl_zVUWFiTENtRFZpDSrEWKO/s320/Draft+Policy.jpg" width="221" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cover page of the Draft of National Education Policy - 2019</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The Draft National Policy of 2019 on Education
was released by the Government of India on the 31st of March 2019, a day after
the election results were announced. Here is a montage of a few paragraphs
nested under a subsection of titled '<b>Education in the local language/mother
tongue; multilingualism and the power of language</b>' - and some reflections
on them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Page 81 of the Draft Education policy echo
these words, "<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Children learn
languages extremely quickly when immersed early, and multilingual children in
studies around the world have also been found to learn faster and be placed
better later in life than those who are unilingual</b>....... <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A multilingual India is better educated and
also better nationally integrated</b>.... ''. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">These words embody the noble intentions of the
policy which clearly asserts that the exposure to multi languages early in life
would be beneficial to the individual as well as the nation. Catch them young -
the phrase sounds good. Wait, hold your horses. Building upon these noble
intentions comes the diktat at paragraph 4.5.3, "...<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">all students from pre-school and Grade 1 onwards will be exposed to
three or more languages</b>". <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why
was the languages 'three or more' and why not 'two or more"? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A quick flash back to the days when we were
framing our Charter of Constitution - the agreement we have had between the
people - post our independence from the British Empire would throw some light. One
group of people wanted Hindi to be the new country's national and official language.
Another group mainly from Tamil Nadu and Bengal opposed this idea as they saw
this an a unnecessary imposition; they favored the continuation of the then
existing official language, English. A compromise between the two groups saw
both the languages being accepted as official languages of the country. As
India is a country with many languages and therefore many cultures, the states
were also allowed to use their own official languages. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In 1968, a National Education Policy was accepted
by the Indian Central Parliament where in the three language formula echoing
the compromise mentioned in the Constitution was implemented at the secondary
schooling level. National Education Policy - 1968 Clause 3 (b) said, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"The State Government should adapt,
and vigorously implement, the three-language formula which includes the study
of a Modern Indian language, preferably one of the Southern languages, apart
from Hindi and English in Hindi speaking states, and of Hindi along with the
regional language and English in Non Hindi speaking states'</b>'. The words '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">should adapt</b>' brought in a sense of non
imperativeness to the clause and gave the states a license to act or not to.
Tamil Nadu, for example, followed a two language policy virtually shunting out
Hindi from its borders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Cut back to the present, to paragraph 4.5.3 of
the Draft National Education Policy of 2019 and its diktat for the children to
study '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">three or more</b>' languages. The
noble intention of studying 'three languages or more' gets narrowed down to
'three languages' when we go down to paragraph 4.5.6 of the draft. The paragraph
is named <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'The implementation of the
three language formula'</b> and it states <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'The
three-language formula will need to be implemented in its spirit throughout the
country, promoting multilingual communicative abilities for a multilingual
country. However, it must be better implemented in certain States, particularly
Hindi speaking States; for purposes of national integration, schools in Hindi speaking
areas should also offer and teach Indian languages from other parts of India</b>.'
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In both 4.5.3 and 4.5.6 the word '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">WILL</b>' is used which makes these noble
intentions seem almost like a decree, a far cry from the '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">SHALL</b>' used in the National Education Policy - 1968. If this policy
is adopted by the Central Government, the state of Tamil Nadu too might have to
co-opt itself into the three language policy. Also to be noted is that the 1968
policy made it preferable that the students in the Hindi belt study <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'preferably one of South Indian languages'.
</b>Those words are missing in the 2019 draft policy<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">. </b>Complicating matters further, paragraph 4.5.6 also uses the word<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> 'should' </b>as in<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> "Hindi speaking areas should also offer and teach Indian
languages from other parts of India". </b>The word<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> 'should' </b>evokes a certain sense of probability, the element of certainty
gets missed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Hence, if a child in the remote village in the
Hindi speaking belt of the state of Madhya Pradesh wanted to study Tamil or
Malayalam the 'preferability' of it could now be officially zilch. Not that
South Indian languages were preferred as the third language in the Hindi belt
even otherwise, the lack of teachers being the main bane along with a great
degree of disinterest. It would seem that there would be no serious attempt
made by the Hindi speaking belt to learn the languages of other parts of the
country, especially of the southern part of it. In fact, it can be safely
stated that there were no such serious attempt despite the noble intentions of
the earlier education policies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But we shall cling on to the positives of this
word '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">WILL</b>' that has popped up in
this Draft National Educational Policy of 2019 in paragraphs <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>4.5.3 and 4.5.6. AS it makes the three
language policy mandatory, theoretically speaking, it is very now much possible
for a child in a remote Hindi belt village in Madhya Pradesh to choose a North
Eastern State language like Manipuri or Assamese as his third language to
study, apart from Hindi and English. Paragraph 4.5.7 further states <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'In localities where there is a shortage of
teachers who speak a given language, special efforts will be made, and special
schemes rolled out, to recruit teachers (including retired teachers) to that
locality who speak that language.</b>"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The word again is the certainty of the '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">WILL'</b>. Superb, it would seem that there would be plenty of teachers
to teach in plenty of Indian languages. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Let us not at all get into the realm of possibilities
where the child living in the remote village in Madhya Pradesh might have Avadi,
Gondi or Bundeli as his mother tongue or local language. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paragraph 4.5.1 of the draft policy states, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"When possible, the medium of
instruction - at least until Grade 5 but preferably till at least Grade 8 -
will be the home language/mother tongue/local language."</b> If I walked this
path, it complicates matters with non availability of teachers and books in
such mother tongue and home languages etc... The school that the Hindi belt boy
is attending in the remote Madhya Pradesh village would be well within its
rights to make use the words <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'when
possible'</b> embedded in the beginning of paragraph 4.5.1. It can simply and
legally say that it is '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not possible</b>'
that the medium o f instruction be home language / mother tongue / local
language. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Moving
further, paragraph 4.5.9 provides a certain flexibility of choices that is made
available for the child at grade 6th and 7th stage. Among other things it states,
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'... a change in language choice in
Grade 6 would certainly be feasible if the student so desires and would in such
cases be supported by teachers and the schooling system". </b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">i</b>s
it possible for the school in the remote Hindi belt village of Madhya Pradesh to
deny the child the language of his choice ie.. Manipuri or Assamese? Well yes,
they can always quote paragraph 4.5.9 and say that they are not '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">supported by teachers and the schooling
system'</b>. So in such scenario, what then would the third language choice be
of the child, apart from English and Hindi? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Further
down the report in paragraph 4.5.14 are the words, "<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">... Sanskrit WILL be offered at all levels of school and higher
education as one of the optional languages on par with all Schedule 8
languages." </b>The emphasis in the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'will'</b>
is done by me. Since there is a '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">WILL</b>'
in this paragraph the school in the remote village in Madhya Pradesh or any
other part of India has to imperatively offer Sanskrit as a language to study
for the child who might have wanted to learn his tribal mother tongue, his
dialect or even Manipuri or Assamese language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Immediately
after paragraph 4.5.14, as if to compensate the paragraph that was written on Sanskrit
and almost as a second thought. there is another paragraph numbered 4.5.18 that
declares,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> "In addition to Sanskrit,
the teaching of other classical languages and literatures of India, including
Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Pali, Persian, and Prakrit, will also
be widely available in schools, to ensure that these languages and literatures
stay alive and vibrant, especially in States where they may be best taught and
nurtured.' <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Don't let
the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'WILL'</b> fool you here, what is
crucial is what follows. Though there is an imperativeness to these classical
languages that they be made <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'widely
available' </b>thanks to the usage of the word '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">WILL</b>',<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>it would be okay
for some schools not to make it available at all. Why? I bring to your notice
the last few words in the paragraph. It is the icing on the cake and it<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>states that these languages will be widely be
available '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">especially in States where
they may be best taught and nurtured.' </b>Where would Manipuri and Assamese be
best <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'thought and nurtured</b>'? Obviously
it would be in the states of Manipur and Assam where the languages are spoken
and where there is already an eco system for the dissemination for such
languages; and not in the Hindi speaking belt of Madhya Pradesh. All the more
reason for the school in the Hindi belt regions to deny the choices of the
child who would want to learn Manipuri, Assamese or any other non Hindi Indian languages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So, what then
would by default be the Hindi belt child's third language? The diktat that is
there in clause 4.5.14 - Sanskrit. Under the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Classical languages
and literatures of India'</b> sub heading, one whole paragraph is devoted to the
development of the Sanskrit language and a paragraph of similar length to
Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Pali, Persian, and Prakrit put
together. Paragraph 4.5.14 has half a page devoted to the title <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'Study of Sanskrit and knowledge of its
extensive literature'</b>, where as paragraph 4.5.15 titled <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"Make available courses on all
classical languages of India'</b> involving all other Indian languages has just
a paragraph to it. <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">No guesses as to which direction the facilities and schemes that
would be rolled out to recruit teachers under paragraph 4.5.7 of the draft
policy would take<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
In the
realm of cinema, we say that the amount of screen time we give to a particular character
betrays his or her importance in the larger scheme of things in the narrative.
Similar here. <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The drafters of the policy
and the possible brief given to them seem to have a heavy soft corner for
Sanskrit; other classical languages equally rich in literature, wisdom and
antiquity is seemed to be relegated to the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">'ALSO'</b>
category. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The
original draft of the paragraph 4.5.9 is supposed to be the following<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black;">
“In keeping with the principle of flexibility, students who wish to change one
of the three languages they are studying may do so in grade 6, so long as the
study of three languages by students in the Hindi-speaking states would
continue to include Hindi and English and one of the modern Indian languages
from other parts of India, while the study of languages by students in the
non-Hindi speaking states would include the regional language, Hindi and
English,” </span></b><span style="background: white; color: black;">This paragraph titled<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> '</b></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flexibility in the three-language formula</b>' <span style="background: white; color: black;"> ironically
had made Hindi compulsory. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: black;">The maximum protests to this section came from Tamil Nadu, a
state that has not yet implemented the three language policy formalized by the
Central Government in 1968. It had struck to its very own policy of two
languages that of Tamil and English, with stubborn steadfastness. The older
4.5.9 meant that Tamil Nadu would now be bound to implement the three language
policy with a Hindi imposition. T</span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">he widespread protests has led the
central government to modify the paragraph, where it has withdrawn the
mandatory Hindi imposition. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">However paragraph
4.5.3 and paragraph 4.5.6 of the Draft National Educational Policy and its '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">WILL</b>" would still make it
mandatory for any state to adapt the three language formula - so it would seem.
It will be extremely unlikely that a school in a remote village in Tamil Nadu
would teach Manipuri or Assamese to an interested child, or for that matter the
local Toda language. The child would have no option but to select either Hindi
or Sanskrit as it is most likely that teachers would be by and large available
to these subject, thanks to the historical state support the two languages have
received post the Indian independence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There
are 22 languages to the 8th schedule of the constitution and according to the </span><span style="background: white; color: #333333;">Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India,</span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
there are about 19,500 languages spoken in India. It would be a pity if these
languages are neglected or given perennial treatment. And come to think of it,
one of the noble intention of the Draft National Education policy is m</span>ultilingualism<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Some
food for thought: What if in the Draft Education policy of 2019 there was '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">SHALL</b>' instead if '<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">WILL</b>' ? Well, I won't go into that as it will and shall make me
split my hair!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-52206847321217987862019-02-27T16:38:00.000+05:302019-03-01T08:39:02.664+05:30I would be glad to be proved wrong...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzSCpgsrAx8-uYXHHTjYRRa1balAob0hR8h8kpG58dPCsmUXf2qkh0qZLzckbQBw8OOwlccNftRoZetIJpgYqovR0vRgQlGd-8udtGit_YiNUcPSMMuTFyP2p9msu3JLsTinOR/s1600/Pamphlet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1600" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzSCpgsrAx8-uYXHHTjYRRa1balAob0hR8h8kpG58dPCsmUXf2qkh0qZLzckbQBw8OOwlccNftRoZetIJpgYqovR0vRgQlGd-8udtGit_YiNUcPSMMuTFyP2p9msu3JLsTinOR/s400/Pamphlet.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A grab from the film ''Pamphlet'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The
success of anything would probably be reflected on how consistent it has been. Judging
by this standard, The National Short Film Festival (NSFF), an event organized
by the Department of Media and Communication Studies (DMCS) of the Savitribai Phule
University in Pune is a highly flourishing film festival, as they have been
holding it for nearly eight consecutive years now. The film festival showcases
films that are below thirty minutes in length - fiction and nonfiction &
student or otherwise - and awards nominal cash prizes in about ten categories. Although
the department head Dr Madhavi Reddy is the inspiring force behind the
festival, all the planning and execution work is done by her students to whom
she has delegated responsibilities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Going
by the films that were screened in the film festival, it seems that the film
festival over the years has given a much needed fillip to the ever thriving
short film making scene in nontraditional centers in Maharashtra, especially in
rural and semi urban areas. One saw films which were either from or shot in Savantwadi,
Satara, Nagar, Pune, Alibaug, Sangli, Baramati etc. Although the festival had
films from other parts of the country like Ahmadabad, Kolkata and Tamil Nadu,
by and large most of the films were owned by rural Maharashtra. Never before
rural Maharashtra opened up for me as it did at the NSFF. The
films were raw, rustic and had some amount of freshness to them; more
importantly they betrayed a commitment and energy that naturally oozed through them. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzMcBbwktHSSUnPFPTpaQvDI9MF_teajPFoJ_RJUGPIrcy3lM2Q0wDoP7zOJhk28VIysTQ1w4njiDnfz6QRLycstWqOaVqUu0BCHQq-t3Vf6RgNeqJkcCryFGyhlKNSz2wwesO/s1600/Antyesthi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1600" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzMcBbwktHSSUnPFPTpaQvDI9MF_teajPFoJ_RJUGPIrcy3lM2Q0wDoP7zOJhk28VIysTQ1w4njiDnfz6QRLycstWqOaVqUu0BCHQq-t3Vf6RgNeqJkcCryFGyhlKNSz2wwesO/s400/Antyesthi.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A grab from the film 'Antyeshti'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The
three member jury, of which yours truly was also a part of, adjured 'Antyeshti'
(Last Rites) as the best short film in the fiction open category. Set in a tiny
isolated village that lies amidst nature in the remote area of rural Satara in
Maharashtra, the film potrays the story of a family who have to wait for the
incessant rains to end so that they perform the last rights of a deceased person.
This highly evolved film cinematically evokes the philosophical dimensions of
the forlorn inevitability of life and death amidst overbearing nature. The film
maker had the conviction to leave the film a bit open ended, as the rolling titles come in with
the widowed daughter-in-law waiting alone for the rains to stop, sitting before
her father-in-law's dead body as her hitherto helpful neighbors go back to
their respective houses, probably to live their own lives as they wait for the
rains to end. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Conventional
film making would demand that the story have a beginning (death of the father
in law), a middle (the daughter-in-law and her neighbors waiting for the rains
to stop) and an appropriate end. The logical end would probably be that the
body be burnt, an event that never happens in the film. The end of the film sees
the neighbors leave the dead body, maybe temporarily, lying on the ground
besides the forlorn daughter-in-law as she waits for the rains to stop. The
middle of the film, therefore is also its end and yet, there is a extreme sense
of completeness to the film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>'Rang
Rakhadi' (Colour: Grey), which won the best fiction film in the student
category, too had a non conventional narrative structure that discards the
cause and effect dramatic narrative structure - a classical narrative structure
that includes sequences of connected events - one causing and leading to the next
till there is a logically led climax, which is normally the emotional high
point in the film.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSod0-klyB18ImXtJeszM2hnpVXbjTG7bHWImXrIY5l51fLrUnUd5PJckwRD0ubC86bWoFm_kGQQVNUNn9cpRHNd9N2Zp5B0DtimJ6t2dPrpcgZV5XlnROKsFGFdex1xkrl4u/s1600/Rang+Rakhadi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="768" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSod0-klyB18ImXtJeszM2hnpVXbjTG7bHWImXrIY5l51fLrUnUd5PJckwRD0ubC86bWoFm_kGQQVNUNn9cpRHNd9N2Zp5B0DtimJ6t2dPrpcgZV5XlnROKsFGFdex1xkrl4u/s320/Rang+Rakhadi.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A grab from 'Rang Rakhadi'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
'Rang
Rakhadi' unfolds a series of events in the life of a few
characters as they go about their mundane daily life on a particularly uneventful day. There
is no cause and effect relationship between the sequences that leads to a
logical dramatic climax. In a small hut in a big city a
husband sips his tea and goes off from the house. The wife works in a
construction site. The helpful contractor - who is also a family friend -
arrives and goes about doing his job. After a tea break, work resumes. The day ends,
the lady comes back to her hut and gets involved in her household work. The
contractor is with her, supporting her financially. Her husband comes back drunk
at night; he takes solace in his contractor friend. Meat is cooked and all of
them have their food. The day ends. If at all there is a plot in this film,
this is it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Being
non dramatic, in a sense, is the theme of the film. The film explores
relationships between people, surveying the gray areas of their routine lives.
No character is seen in black and white as the film focuses on their
inter-dependency amidst extreme alienation of the city life. The angst ridden
husband, the detachment of the wife and the loneliness of the contractor - all supplement each other, all the while indicating that there is something that is missing for these characters. But what is missing is probably being compensated through a sense of
belonging and the dependence that they have with each other. Despite
incorporating a whole dynamic range of light intensity into its camera work, the film literally
has a lot of grey tones embedded into its visuals, as its central motif.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
That
life should be looked from the different shades of grey that it embodies in itself is
also the world view of the film 'Aagasvadi', the film that won the best
documentary film in the festival. Agasvadi is the name of a drought ridden
village, again in Satara district in Maharashtra. It is a melancholic film that touches the right issues regarding commercial development of this drought
ridden village and the misgivings it has caused to its residents. Like 'Rang
Rakhadi', 'Agaswadi' is also from the stable of the student films of the Film and TV Institute of India. The fact the 'Agaswadi' won the best documentary
film in the open category speaks well for itself. It is also a comment
on the other documentary films in the open category.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The
central character of 'Agaswadi' through which the story is unfolded is a man
who over the years has dug his own well and is determined not to migrate into a
city like most of his neighbors have done. The film is not a character based
documentary, as in it does not follow a particular character 'from birth to death', so to say, as some of the recent full length documentaries do by default.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, well digger / farmer is the anchor (not of the TV kind) of
the film, binding it together. The film dwells on the other
aspects of the issue in hand and peeps into other characters - like the school
teacher or the bhajan singing group. Considerable screen time of the film is devoted
to the electricity producing windmill<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>company present in the village and the kind of misgivings people have
about it. Particularly poignant is the last sequence where the village gathers
at night to discuss their issues. All they manage to do is to complain and crib. As the power goes off, the rain arrives and they scatter
off! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNbNqtVAy3eelriAbGJQOBha-e8Q6hjmYNubq7ydo8P189hL5_FLMyRE2z0guZ3NJkzZgYp4QpQCol9pw3hKzOSvsPeCtPP-rOetm9J7zUXy6lob_JxhbB8tL4LVLl3AsYrFIA/s1600/Agaswadi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNbNqtVAy3eelriAbGJQOBha-e8Q6hjmYNubq7ydo8P189hL5_FLMyRE2z0guZ3NJkzZgYp4QpQCol9pw3hKzOSvsPeCtPP-rOetm9J7zUXy6lob_JxhbB8tL4LVLl3AsYrFIA/s320/Agaswadi.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A grab from 'Agaswadi'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
These
three films stood out. There were others too, 'Teen Don Ek' (Three Two One),
Stains', 'Gadhul' (Turbid), 'Glow Worm in a Jungle', 'Pamphlet', 'Akki',
'Bhairu', 'Maun' (Silence), 'Phad', 'Pipanya', etc...
- films that were interesting in various degrees. The thematic concerns
of these films covered a wide spectrum - position of women in society, urban
alienation, rural migration, issues of differently abled persons, superstition, caste discrimination, effects of consumerism, dying folk
forms, religious bigotry, same sex relationships etc... But there were a few
prominent burning issues plaguing the country that were entirely missing from
the line up, not that the organizers had anything to do with it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
We
did not see a film on the ever growing agrarian crisis, nor was environmental
degradation dealt with in any of these films. The theme of 'Corporatocracy' or
the nexus between the country's governance and corporate world - was nowhere in
the picture. Neither was another prominent theme that involves a small group of
people trying to homogenize<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>culture
and control its practices. We did not have anything that represented the indigenous people's
voice, the forest dweller or for that matter human right issues.
Ultra-nationalism too was missing. These are some of the large narratives that
are playing out in India today and it is surprising that they did not find an expression
in this eight year old well established film festival. Interacting
with the ever energetic film festival organisers it hardly seemed to me that
films on these large narratives were made and sent but not curated into the
festival.<br />
<br />
Which brings me to a bigger question that relates to all film
festivals. Why are we short film makers are found wanting in this respect that
we are blind to such compelling global narratives that impacts us in our day to
day life? Is it so because we are ignorant about these narratives - some of
them very destructive in nature threatening our very existence? Is it that maybe
we are aware of these issues but don't find it compelling enough to engage with
them? Or is it that maybe we film makers know that a relationship
based film, for example, stands more of a chance in making it into film
festivals than the rest and are thus are dishing out films that we think are likely to
be selected in these festivals? Do film festivals really have certain unstated biases
in picking up such films for their festivals or is it that we are just assuming that
they have certain biases? Most likely, maybe we are simply afraid to confront these compelling grand narratives where it is imperative that you as a film
maker take a political stand and thereby assume an ideology pertaining to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Also
worrisome is the fact that apart from the three-four films mentioned here, few
filmmakers were ready to experiment with the narrative form that they were
using. Although there were glimpses of it, there were no films that were
predominantly surreal or impressionistic in nature. A parody, burlesque, the
free style of a folk narrative ... you name them and they were not there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All we had in the fiction category is the
three part narrative structure, attempts to construct such a structure or at
best the realist films that were episodic slices of life. The documentary films
mainly were in the essayistic mode. Some of them looked like they are dated fifteen
to twenty years back or maybe more, as far as their form goes. As hinted before
these are the days where long character driven documentaries rule the roost.
Fortunately the length restriction NSFF imposes on the films (30 mints) don't
allow for such indulgences. From the observational to the poetic, the reflective
and participatory modes, the choices for a documentary film maker are vast. But
I did not see anyone picking up these choices. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Despite
the superior technical quality of many of the films that were screened at the
NSFF, the film package as a whole missed out on certain major narratives that
are extremely relevant today. The films also had a familiarity to them in terms
of the form or the formal devices that were used. Going beyond NSFF and back to the
larger issue, the more I think about it the more I tend to hold the view that not engaging intensively in such nature is a deliberate 'dumbing down' process where films are over simplified frivolously with a view that that it finds a larger acceptance. These practices are adopted, I am afraid, not only by short
film makers but even by the feature film makers of all kind. It falls in line
with the general scheme of things prevalent in the post truth world that we
live in - in line with the journalism that does not question, the literature
that is superficial, the history that is based not on evidences, the myths that
being treated as science and the TV serials becoming de-facto cultural heritage,
among other things. We are living in a 'dumb and dumber' times.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
And I
would be glad to be proved wrong. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<br />Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-42987453578915046852019-01-28T14:22:00.000+05:302019-01-29T08:42:22.965+05:30The Touch of Orson Welles. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheLKQiet_LUvrfHyeVK9VM_pMDx_wQcNI9b4JdnL7IF1gUuYcZITwdiJrdJSkyYhYUlLdilelmS3FxTCB38xj0_d7nSt0PRu1JfsHoKhoPKYqtvSabIBbwsyrNgsHOGv24aBlR/s1600/touch-of-evil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="1600" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheLKQiet_LUvrfHyeVK9VM_pMDx_wQcNI9b4JdnL7IF1gUuYcZITwdiJrdJSkyYhYUlLdilelmS3FxTCB38xj0_d7nSt0PRu1JfsHoKhoPKYqtvSabIBbwsyrNgsHOGv24aBlR/s320/touch-of-evil.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A still from 'Touch of Evil'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<a href="https://www.indiblogger.in/post/the-touch-of-orson-welles" title="Featured post on IndiBlogger, the biggest community of Indian Bloggers"></a><br />
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</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
The
first thing that strikes you with the mention of the 1958 movie 'Touch of Evil'
authored by Orson Welles are the magnificent long takes that the film is adorned
with. In simple words, long takes are those shots where the camera is not
switched off for a long time. Legendary among the long takes in the 'Touch of
Evil' is the one that comes in the very beginning of the film - in fact in the
very first shot of the film that runs for about three and a quarter minutes.
This write up is in appreciation of the cinematic genius of that particular
shot. Let us first watch the shot.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yg8MqjoFvy4" width="560"></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
This
shot, as you have seen, chronicles the immediate moments before a bomb gets
blasted. The location is supposed to be the border towns of two countries -
America and Mexico. The set used in the film for this particular shot is about
three to four blocks of the town on the Mexican side and a few yards in the
American side. Most roads in the Mexican town lead to the border check point
that has two booths and an immigration building. It is through these check
points that people enter and exit the two countries. This oft quoted shot from 'Touch
of Evil', starts from one end of this huge outdoor set and ends at the other. Below
is the probable ground pan of the shot, giving us a birds view of the location.
It is convenient for a director to plan his shots using such a ground plan. We
shall use the ground plan to admire how the shot was taken. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAYJv4Hffyhok2ooM62Rdv295c4R2wDUWtL4wcZeVAyOMerMImUtgLK1UuQ-1KnMQtVSnhrSxovxGeQKHhGHFQPwDPx_x-AwOK4WXc0RrR0gVEtRCv3qnQ9P22UPrvgfoMOT4h/s1600/Touch+of+Evil+GP.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAYJv4Hffyhok2ooM62Rdv295c4R2wDUWtL4wcZeVAyOMerMImUtgLK1UuQ-1KnMQtVSnhrSxovxGeQKHhGHFQPwDPx_x-AwOK4WXc0RrR0gVEtRCv3qnQ9P22UPrvgfoMOT4h/s1600/Touch+of+Evil+GP.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Probable ground plan of the shot with camera and character movements.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
In
this ground plan given above the green dot represents the cozy couple who walk
into the car. Their walking path is marked by green arrows. The car itself is
marked by brown colour, its path by brown arrows. The path of the camera is marked
by red arrows, its key positions marked again in red as A, B, C etc. The path
that the other walking couple takes is marked as blue arrows.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
</div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The
shot starts from camera position A (marked in red). The camera sees, in close
up, hands of a man switching on the timer of a bomb. The camera is below the
eye level. A music is heard, presumably, a spillover from one of the bar joints
in the area.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">As he
hears some voices, the bomber turns towards the source. The camera leaves him
and moves to its left, as if turning its head, to see a cozy couple - marked as a green dot in the ground plan -
walk down a building corridor, towards the camera in the far background.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The
bomber crosses the frame in the foreground and hides behind a corner of the
building on the left side of the camera, keeping an eye on the couple. The
couple then turn to their left, far away, to disappear behind the building
presumably into an alley.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The
bomber hurriedly runs by the wall of the building, parallel to the now unseen couple
who are seemingly walking on the alley on the other side of the building. The
camera follows the bomber to a car parking lot, to position B (marked in red),
where he opens the boot of the car - marked in brown in the ground plan - and
plants the bomb. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">As
the bomber exits frame, the camera move up on a crane to see the couple
approach the car and enter it. As the car moves away from the camera, the music
form the car's sound system is heard loud. This music emanating from the car
keeps fading off and on as the car goes away from the camera or comes to it,
later in the shot. But now the camera is on the crane still looking down on
things from a very high position. It moves to its left - back towards position
A where far in the background the car appears from behind the building wall
from the alley in which we has seen the could walk into some seconds back. The
car takes a turn to its left, towards the camera. The camera still moving to
its left, comes down briefly to see the approaching car at position C (marked
in red), a road crossing.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">A traffic
policeman stop the car to let the vehicular movements pass by on the other lane.
The camera in a continuous movement goes up again to its vantage top position
looking down on things. Simultaneously it starts moving back from position C.
When it reaches yet another road crossing, which is marked as position D, the
car catches up with the camera only to be halted by another traffic policeman
of that crossing block.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">At
this point we see another couple enter from the right of the camera crossing
the road for the purpose of which our car had stopped. At this point the camera
moves to its left leaving the car and to frame the second couple. It now comes
down to the eye level. Soon, it takes a frontal position to the walking couple.
The policeman presumably releases the car at the crossing seen n the
background. The car now over takes the couple to exit the ever moving camera. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">After
a few yards, the couple cross the car which by now is struck standstill as some
goats have blocked its path. The perennially moving camera continues to follow
the couple as they make their way through another road crossing after which the
moving camera goes slightly higher on angle - high enough to see the first
booth, where pleasantries are exchanged between the guards and the couple in
position E. Meanwhile in the background
we see the car maneuver through the animals and the surround people. It also
crosses the first booth, but from the other side.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The
moving camera now picks up some more height as the couple and the car
simultaneously come to booth two marked as position F . Here the camera goes
below eye level and halts for the exchange of the border formalities. As the
business is completed, the couple move into the immigration building that is
now seen in the background.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The
officers on the booth 2 concentrate on the couple in the car. The lady in the
car complains about a ticking sound that she is hearing, but is ignored by the
guard. After the couple in the car finish their border formalities and the car
exits the camera to the camera's left. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The
camera now moves to its left and goes forward as we see the other couple come
out of the immigration building and kiss at camera position G, which is now
Mexican soil. They turn, when they hear a blast.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">That
is when the camera cuts for the first time in the film to show the blasting of
the car.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
One
of the undercurrent themes of 'Touch of Evil' is the mixing of two cultures and
the porous border that supports that. Quite a few people crisscross across the
border between the two countries, quite often in the film. The first shot, sets
the tone for such a scenario, when the camera and therefore the audience literally
crosses the border along with the characters. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Do
watch shot again. Feel free to stop the shot at any point or refer to the points mentioned above or compare it with the drawing in the ground plan. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yg8MqjoFvy4" width="560"></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
There
are some other long shots in the film, some of them are take place in indoors
in cramped spaces. More about those in a later write up. But
now all one can say after watching this clip for the umpteenth time - savoring
the playful choreography between the camera movements, character movements, vehicle
movement, the play with light and shadow etc. - is to
exclaim in reverence is 'Whah, kya baat hain...!!! (Wow, what pleasure!!!)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<br />Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-7694305286100824512019-01-09T14:31:00.001+05:302019-01-09T14:31:05.212+05:30The Short Fictional Journey - Part 3<div style="text-align: center;">
(My foray into the short fiction format)</div>
<div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuBGQD_fDhWlDAhoE2twaZJJr-4GJLWwdNWFNF_z7DMDRbB5Mg5j77ky86klVaEQVw1qgpnpwzbqZutz1iFwiaToIwulr6R4YaMWkn_36mzSZOkw9q7YhQy0G9L8NxbU56IrYC/s1600/IMG_2279.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuBGQD_fDhWlDAhoE2twaZJJr-4GJLWwdNWFNF_z7DMDRbB5Mg5j77ky86klVaEQVw1qgpnpwzbqZutz1iFwiaToIwulr6R4YaMWkn_36mzSZOkw9q7YhQy0G9L8NxbU56IrYC/s320/IMG_2279.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shooting of a Short fiction film</td></tr>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Coming
to think of it, even a shot thirty second advertisement film is a short fiction
film. A not so handsome guy wears a cream and the girl falls for him - this could
be the one liner of the story of an advertisement film on a fairness cream. Not
that yours truly did not dip his hands into such versions of the short fiction
film. An advertisement film on a bindi, a hair shampoo and a greeting card were
some attempts that I had done in the initial days of my career in this format.
The only 'non-neoliberal' solace that I have right now is that the companies
that manufactured these products were not large multinational corporations -
they were run by small entrepreneurs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 2008, </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2127195/" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank">Sameer Mahajan</a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> the cameraman of my first fiction feature movie '</span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758438/reference" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank">Suddha</a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">' (The Cleansing
Rites) gave me a call saying that he was facilitating the making of a short
promotional film that will act as an eye opener for the World Military Games that
was to be held in Hyderabad. He needed someone to direct the film. George
Thomas, the producer he was regularly working with had entrusted him with this
job. The film was about a kid who gets bullied by his rival in the run up to a
school running race. As the race progresses the bully trips, only to be helped
by the sympathetic underdog who not only wins the race but also the bully's
friendship. The narrative worked out in the film was complimenting the theme of
the World Military Games - 'Friendship Through Sports'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/89YDCIXnwD8" width="560"></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Friendship Through Sports</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unfortunately
there is no 'authorship' of the French <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> '<em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_New_Wave" target="_blank">Nouvelle Vague</a>'</em></span> kind for
such promotional films also called 'promos'. Most times, there is no scope for
even credits to be rolled out after the film. Such films have no names to them as
they serve a specific purpose for a specific organization. The film I made just had
a working title - 'World Military Games Promo'. As is the norm with such
promos, well lit shots were edited in a rapid pace; and an overpowering music underlined
the visuals and the emotion that the characters underwent. These are necessary formal
film-language 'tropes' - so to say - conventionally used in such kinds of
films. Just to give an idea, another example of 'formal trope' in films would be say that an art
house movie should be very slow pace or dimly lit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, within a
span of four minutes of screen time, what transpired in the film was the
children's entry onto the race ground, their preparation for the race, the
bully troubling the underdog, the girl showing sympathy to the underdog, the
thrill of the race, the tripping of the bully, the underdog giving the bully a
helping hand, the underdog winning the race, the two boys breaking the ice
between them and the underdog getting the trophy - all these crammed in four
minutes. An advertisement film would take about thirty seconds to depict this
timeline. A promotional film which is not that fast moving has more chances of
being rejected by the client who has commissioned it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I will now dwell
on two more examples of short fiction films, in which the form of the film is
directly determined by the intention of the people who are asking you to make
it, by providing you the money. Imo Singh is a film school fellow traveler. In
2006, he was producing a couple of short fiction films for a business group that runs a chain
of huge malls. The malls were conducting acting workshops for children during their summer vacations, the end
of which would be culminated into short fiction films whose story would have
to be set within the malls where the workshops took place. The actors of these
films were to be picked from the participants of these workshops. I was asked
to make a film in a Mall in Bengaluru, the result was a fifteen minutes film
called 'Babe Se Date' ( A Date with a Babe). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OIxuMeDKNyE" width="560"></iframe></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 115%;">Babe Se Date</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After being
foolishly chased around in a mall, a young boy finally has his ice cream date
with a girl schoolmate and wins a bet that he had waged with his elder friends.
With the winning money, he buys a much longed gift to his recently handicapped
younger brother - this was the narrative in '<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/babe-se-date.htm" target="_blank">Babe Se Date</a>'. Throughout the film
the young boy behaves in a manner that puts some doubts on his actual intentions. On an apparent level, he does not come out in a good light - he is flirtatious, indulges 'vices'
like betting, people doubt if he into drugs etc.., until in the end he gets
redemption in the eyes of the audience when it is revealed that he has been the
deliberate 'bad boy' in the mall for a particular purpose, the intentions of which were noble. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">'<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/babe-se-date.htm" target="_blank">Babe Se Date</a>'
had a normal believable story that could have happen in a upper middle class milieu,
the twists only comes in the end. The temporal structure followed the cause and
effect dramatic narrative pattern - one event leading to another, till finally reaching to a climax. The question the audience experiences in the film is whether the boy
will have his ice cream date with his girl or not. Once this is resolved in the
climax, then come the twists that explains the film. The fact that the boy's ice
cream date is actually a bet is the first twist. The second and the crucial twist
is the fact that the bet was waged because the boy had to help his handicapped
brother. A certain degree of normalcy in formal techniques
that were being used, was the underlining factor in this film. As far as possible, the camera
and the edit pattern was unobtrusive. There were no extreme angles, the pace of the film did not overtly call an attention to itself. Every thematic and technical decisions
lead into the normal noble intention of the protagonist and the feeling he had for his brother. If the kid's intentions
are normal, by extension his existence in the mall too would be so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A mall is a
place where people aspire to consume, they could buy if they could. It is also
a place where people meet, even if they can't consume. I guess, any mall
management would be happy to propagate and encourage the concept of a mall as a
social space. If people pour in into malls even for a social purpose, consumption would naturally
follow. The mall films portrayed the mall as a social space. The films were in a
sense, indirect marketing that targeted kids - all these, now it
seems, in retrospect. In 2015 Imo Singh came back to me again. This time he was
making seven mall films all over India. He asked me to direct one of the two
that he was planning in Mumbai. The film was a thirteen minutes one called
'<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/Tiku.htm" target="_blank">Tiku Tiku Director</a>'. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The acting
workshop for children at the Mall in which I was to make the film, culminated in
a day long workshop with actor and director Amole Gupte. The management of the
mall wanted to document Amole's workshop. Imo had probably managed to convince
them that if they were to do so, it would be a part of the film that would be
made on the mall - which meant that that particular mall film would have to
incorporate actuality footage of Amole's workshop as well as the scripted fiction
portion that was to be shot with the workshop children. It was tricky, and who
else was entrusted with this job of this amalgamation but yours truly? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LFDUb-AqPao" width="560"></iframe></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tiku Tiku Director (The Fragile Director)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">'<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/Tiku.htm" target="_blank">Tiku Tiku Director</a>' (The Fragile Director) dealt with three ambitious children fed up of
being constantly rejected in screen tests by a renowned film director. They hatch
a deadly plan to gain the attention of the director and a role in his films. Yet again, the story
format was in the cause-effect dramatic narrative mode, one thing leading to
the other that rigidly led into the climax. The children plan the murder of the
director when he comes to the mall to conduct an acting workshop for the
children. The director gets the scare of his life in the process - only
to realize in the end that the knives that the children were using were dummy
ones, meant only for effect. That was the twist of the short film. The film
begins with the famous director rejecting some of the kids during a screen
test, by the end of the film he decides that he is never going to take a
screen test of any kid in the future. That was the second twist. The mall - it
would seem from the film - is also a place where people realize their mistake,
or to put is aptly they are made to realize their mistakes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
music used in the film was a bit loud and overt, the camera angles went beyond
the normal eye level. The pace of the film had to be fast. We shot portions of Amole's
workshop with a two camera set up. Although most of them were candid, there were a few
sequences in the workshop that were planned - they formed the link between
the documentary footage and the fiction portion. Based on what we got during
the workshop, we tweaked the fiction script and after a day, shot it. In the film the real film director (ie. Amole Gupte) is interchanged with the
fictitious one at regular intervals. The fictitious director himself is a small
kid acting as an adult. The three kids too are initially shown as adults who sport grey hair. As per their plan, they remove their wigs and make up to 'become'
children and enter into the mall apparently disguised. They register themselves in the workshop and participate in it to execute the said 'murder'. Well, a mall is also a place where a kid can
aspire to become an adult - so it seems. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
was fortunate to be working in this film with two of the coolest technicians
that I have ever come across - sound person Mohandas VP and editor Hemanti
Sarkar. Malay Ray, took time off from his busy DI set up to shoot the film. After
the completion of the film, Imo Singh called me yet again to make me an offer
that I HAD to refuse. It was an offer to be in a comity that selects films for
a film festival that is run by the government. In return, he wanted me not to
find fault and criticize the people in the government in every which way that was possible. I am not sure in what capacity he was making me this offer or putting
forth a condition that any self respecting creative person would refuse. I will leave it at this, as yet again, it is a potential subject matter for another
short fiction film that I might plan in the future. I am yet to hear from Imo after that phone conversation. My guess is that he would be working on the film screenplay writing book that he was so meticulously planning over the years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
between these two mall films were the two films that I made at the Film & TV Institute of India where I was asked to conduct short film making workshops for the TV direction students. The first was made in 2011 and is called '<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/Mister.htm" target="_blank">Mistress and Mister</a>' - about eight and a half minutes in length. A businessman who is in debt decides to purge many of his mistresses by involving them in a eliminating quiz competition,
the moderator of which is his secretary. None of the ladies win the quiz as it
is finally revealed that the secretary herself is a businesswoman
who has financially bailed out the man. She had fixed the contest to the
desired result, so that her relationship with the man be intact. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3omLq43x1Zc" width="560"></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mistress and Mister</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
story was inspired by a news item at appeared on the internet about a Chinese businessman who went through
a similar crisis. The format of the film is partly in the TV quiz show; clothed
in the dramatic narrative structure. 'Who among the girls is going to win the
quiz and retain her relationship with the man?', was the focus of this
structure. The music selected for the film too supplemented this suspense.
After and before every quiz questions that were asked or answered, characters looked
at each other in anticipation - screen time was expanded here. To bring out the
absurdity of the situation, the questions that the businessman asks his
mistresses were as absurd as say blurting out the correct spelling of 'champagne'
or guessing the favorite sexual positions of the man from all the positions mentioned
in the ancient treatise 'Kamasutra'. The revelation that the secretary herself is the
all controlling businesswoman comes in the fag end of the film. At what point
you would want to reveal the key information is crucial in a film, more so in a
short film. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
TV direction students of the 2011 batched worked on the execution of this film.
Some recent graduates horned the camera and sound work. Two of the students of
the batch who were studying sound - Aakash Kulkarni and Nirukt Dave - composed
the haunting but melodious music used in the film. I hope they continue to
nurture their passion for music composition, along being sound recording
professionals. It was an experience working with my super senior <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0420671/" target="_blank">Bijaya Jena</a>,
her contribution to the characterization of the role she that she was playing
was immense. A minor action here, a physical gesture there many times gives an entire new
dimension to the character that is being portrayed. In that sense, Biyaja was a
professional. Apart from her, the film had my long time actor friend from my
'Gotala' days Niraj Sah; and two Mumbai based actresses Reema Das and Seema
Bora Roy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Two
years later, in 2013, I was asked to conduct a similar short fiction film
workshop. There was a tiny news item about a thief in Tamil Nadu who got
arrested for sneaking into many newlywed couple's rooms, during their first
night for the purpose of stealing the wedding gold jewelry. What did he watch inside the room is anyone's
guess. Finding it very funny, I wrote a screenplay. It had a man entering a posh
hotel room from its balcony. He calls up the reception from his mobile, posing
as the uncle of the bride who is to spend her first night in the very same
hotel room. He asks for some exotic dishes and some milk that have to be sent into the room when the newly married couple check in. Soon enough, the couple come into the room and the man hides. The food
arrives and when the couple go into the bathroom for a joint bath the man
spikes the milk. The couple go unconscious after having the milk. The man
makes good with the jewelry but not after finishing off the sumptuous meal that he had
ordered for the couple. The screenplay was named 'The Fetish', later the film was called
'<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/Khana.htm" target="_blank">Khana Khazaana</a>' (Food and Treasure). Unfortunately, FTII has misplaced the
copy of this film, so I don't have it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSY1-Stf_82eHQSMuxTm_XsR6RmueF3arf7u3YtOsGKOYLPZPcafwa1cl4Ziu9pOBs1Wl2d2sQ42rcB97gjErUlSq5oMEMy6PpWn9rl7kGAjmTNjsabSlyD0fFzhNIIeq4fZ2e/s1600/JT6A0212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSY1-Stf_82eHQSMuxTm_XsR6RmueF3arf7u3YtOsGKOYLPZPcafwa1cl4Ziu9pOBs1Wl2d2sQ42rcB97gjErUlSq5oMEMy6PpWn9rl7kGAjmTNjsabSlyD0fFzhNIIeq4fZ2e/s320/JT6A0212.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Resh Lamba in Khana Khazaana</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">But
as one can see from the screenplay, what is happening on screen is an event - that of a theft, if I may so, in a non dramatic fashion. From the first sequence itself, it is
clear that the man is there to steal. There is no suspense of the 'will he
steal or will he not' kind. The fun is in the quirkiness of the thief - of him
watching the couple and enjoying the meal meant for them before taking off with the bounty. Charu,
the FTII film editing student assigned to edit the film, suggested that we
start the film with the couple entering the room and reveal the thief only when
the couple go into the bathroom to freshen up. Once we see the thief, we could go to
a flashback to see how he had entered the hotel room from the balcony, ordered
food, etc... We then could come back to the present to see him spike the milk and the
rest would follow. Though some of the direction students as well as Ravi Dawala, the faculty in charge, were apprehensive of this
shuffling which they thought was unnecessary, I thought we should give it a shot. By doing so, we are starting the
film from the point of view of the couple. One would think that the film is
about the couple. But then once we see the man, the point of view changes. It
is now a film about the thief. The shift in the placement of the sequences did
not dramatically alter the narrative structure</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">or style of the film, but gave another aspect to it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All
these creative decisions were possible because by and large FTII has a
tradition of nurturing the freedom of the director and the filming team. Such
freedom could be rare outside of FTII, unless of course if you are your own
producer. I was the executive producer for a short film called 'Double Life'
that I made for Films Division in 2018. They wanted a short documentary film on
how double roles are being made in films. I pitched in for a fiction short film -
on a boy who wants to be in two places in real life, at the same time. They
liked the pitch and the screenplay; and thus 'Double Life' got made. Films
Division put forth a condition that the film will have to explain in an enhanced
way about the techniques used in the making of double roles in films. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So.
I incorporated an informative device that is quite common in TV documentaries. The boy gets to
be in two places at the same time in real life, but realizes in the end that it
is a dream. After this happens in the film, the character who helps the boy be in the two
places at the same time, becomes an anchor of sorts, looks into the camera and
explains three aspects of the techniques used in the making of double roles in film - appropriately we cut into sequences
that were already shown before as demonstrations of these techniques. And as
always as a twist in the tale, after the anchoring is over, the character goes
back into becoming the fictional character that he was and lets the boy be in two places at
one time; and this time it is not a dream. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Such
kind of formal liberties are easier to be implemented and come naturally in the short film format. In a longer film, since the scale and the stakes are huge,
people are hesitant to experiment. So, in that sense the short fiction film is
highly satisfactory in nature, in creative terms. The journey of my short
fiction film making has been the journey from being independent to being
dependent on the needs of the producer. People might also like call such a shift as 'professionalism'. A film might be short, but it needs resources to be made. One can't make a short film and 'sell' it because there are no outlets to be sold to. You could make a longer fiction film and try selling it into the well established exhibition outlets that are available. The short fiction films have to be commissioned. It is natural
that those who commission these short fiction films would have their own reasons to do so and thus an
agenda to pursue. If your agenda meets theirs, well and fine. Otherwise it is a tough
life being an independent short fiction film maker, I would say anywhere in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nevertheless,
with digital technology becoming affordable and thus democratized, one sees more and
more short fiction films on the internet; many times originating from the remote
areas of the country. That is a very positive sign. But are they self
sufficient? Do they recover their money enough for the filmmaker so that he could venture into another short fiction film? I doubt it; although there of course could be the odd exception. What is probably needed is a systematic and comprehensive streamlining of the short fiction film eco-system in the country - the kind of work <a href="https://www.nfb.ca/" target="_blank">The National Film Board of Canada</a> does, where short films - fiction, documentary and
animations are made because they have to be made and for no other reasons. Films made because they ought to be made. That
nurtures independent talent and free responsible voices. But will <a href="http://filmsdivision.org/" target="_blank">Films Division</a>, <a href="https://www.nfdcindia.com/" target="_blank">National Film Corporation of India</a>, the various Film Academies and other
similar bodies in India take heed and make the short fiction film the bride or the
groom, instead of the bridesmaid or the best man that they now are? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If they do so that would be the real twist in the end of the tale and O.Henry then would be really resting in peace within his grave. </span></div>
</div>
Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-7893584556219410022019-01-08T16:16:00.001+05:302019-01-09T08:41:47.137+05:30The Short Fictional Journey - Part 2<div style="text-align: center;">
(My foray into the short fiction format)</div>
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<br /></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj76d3YI0N0kDpTL_u0KCBRRhZCNwsdivNo2H2br6b_1wyB0dm082mPPCkJUycuQBTGEoaXcZvrRwsa3RoMz7uoZgpgFroqMxT6EE5J3hO4XsFRMwR14FTRSAr4jIReFQ8dsJx/s1600/vlcsnap-2019-01-08-12h15m19s277.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj76d3YI0N0kDpTL_u0KCBRRhZCNwsdivNo2H2br6b_1wyB0dm082mPPCkJUycuQBTGEoaXcZvrRwsa3RoMz7uoZgpgFroqMxT6EE5J3hO4XsFRMwR14FTRSAr4jIReFQ8dsJx/s320/vlcsnap-2019-01-08-12h15m19s277.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A still from 'Mani Bhai Pass Hogaya? (Did Bother Mani Succeed?)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">A
short film can be a fiction or a documentary work; or it might simply be a
non-fiction work. The three forms could well have a thin line of difference,
one might argue. Agreed. Simplistically speaking, a fiction film is one which has
an enacted story; and by and large the documentary uses real locations and
characters. What then is a non-fiction short film? One that does not have a
enacted story or that which does not use real location and characters? Some of
the works of the Canadian film maker <a href="https://www.nfb.ca/directors/norman-mclaren/" target="_blank">Norman McLaren</a> could be termed as such, like
his short film '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJwfeG3Mntk" target="_blank">Horizontal Lines</a>'. This film has an animation sequence of one
line multiplying itself and then in the end the multiple lines merge themselves to be one
again. Although it could be seen and interpreted as a film that has a story
about a line, the film does not feature people in front of the camera - enacted
or otherwise.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As
an independent short film maker there were possibilities with all these three
forms in the initial days of my career when, for about ten years from 1991, I
worked for TV as a freelance director - not that the TV industry would have an
ecosystem for all these three formats. For twelve years I was by and large
doing short films in the documentary kind for various non-fiction TV shows that
were beginning to shape up in Indian television - like "Surabhi', 'India
Anjaana' etc. Each of these episodes would have three to
four of these short documentaries that were held together by the anchors who
would lead into them by setting up a contextual framework. The format of these documentaries were by and large
fixed. It had to be fast, so that more information could be packed in - so as
an unwritten rule no shot lingered more than five seconds. There was a voice-over giving explanation, sometimes even to things that are obviously seen on
the screen. The work soon got monotonous, the non-fiction short documentary was looking fictional!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By
the end of the millennium, I was getting increasingly impatient for not having
attempted the fiction format since 'The Hot Shot'. It then 'capitalistically' struck
me that things would be a bit easier if one owned a camera - a la Anand
Patwardhan. The idea behind working for television was that maybe I could save
enough money from my earnings to buy myself a camera - a noble neo-liberal thought, the only hitch was that a 16 mm movie camera - like the one Anand had -
during those days cost about 16 lakhs of rupees, an amount beyond my reach. Besides, I also
did not have the political rigor that Anand had - a rigor that made him produce
independent documentaries over the years. Luckily for me, there was an option -
the digital Sony PD 150 camcorder that records in Mini DV tapes. I managed a bank
loan, mortgaged the camera and got the money for a purchase. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">'<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/heart-troubles.htm" target="_blank">The Heart Troubles of Ramchand Yavatmal Tiruchinapalli Azamghad</a>' was made primarily
so that I get to handle and familiarize myself this new camera. I used to reside in a
place called PMGP colony in those days where a lot of my film and TV industry colleagues
also stayed. Since my house was on the ground floor, people generally came by
to hang around - to gossip, to crib about their lives and maybe talk about their
affairs - marital or otherwise. One such person was Anil Pande. Anil hailed
from the hills of Uttarakand, and although he worked in Mumbai in a company,
his aspiration was to become an actor. Since he was in any case pestering me
for a role in any of my prospective films, I decided to cast him in '<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/heart-troubles.htm" target="_blank">The Heart
Troubles </a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/heart-troubles.htm" target="_blank">Heart Troubles of Ramchand Yavatmal Tiruchinapalli Azamghad</a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/euX1nUicYwg" width="854"></iframe></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Heart Troubles of Ramchand Yavatmal TIruchinapalli Azamghar</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This
2003 film is about a man who wants to get married and instead of matching
horoscopes to establish compatibility, he intends to match the ECG heart reports
of the prospective bride with his. During those days I had undergone an ECG
test myself and I found it amazing to see the functioning of my heart recorded
and given to me on a VHS tape. Ever since I saw the tape, I wanted to make use
of the visuals in some form or other. 'The Heart Troubles..." is in the
video advertisement mode, where the character that Anil is playing makes an appeal directly into the camera, calling
for applications for his marriage proposals, as he puts forth his quirky conditions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
film is riddled with jump cuts that created a sense of jerkiness in the minds of
the audience. Many fumbles by Anil while taking shots which usually
are considered NG (No good) and thus discarded, were also kept
in the film. A lot of photographs and drawings of the images looking like the heart in various
shapes, sizes and colours were downloaded from the net and inserted into the
film, at appropriate points and in a suitable pace. Thanks to editor Pankaj
Rishi Kumar and his home editing machine, 'The Heart Troubles..." became a
crisp five minute film. It participated in about eight to nine short film
festivals, the world over. Anil got a kick seeing himself on screen and I
became an independent short fiction film maker once again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Motivated
and boosted by this attempt, both Anil and I decided that we should give
ourselves another shot. I was in any case planning for a longer film, meeting a
few producers to get them materialised. The idea of self producing a longer film
did take shape in me during this time. Anil too started working on a story that
was set in his native town in the hilly Uttarakhand. He wanted a longer film to
be made on it, he would of course, play the lead. The plan was that he would
fix the location, local actors and the production logistics; and I would look
after the rest of the things that is the making of the film - the camera and
the edit etc.. By now I had an edit set up of my own. However exciting the idea
sounded, it did not get the shape that it deserved - a shape that satisfied
both Anil and me. Since this process was taking a lot of our time, we decided that we
shoot a short fiction in between. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">'<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/out-of-tune.htm" target="_blank">Out of Tune</a>' happened under these circumstances. This time, for the sake of some
visual variety, we decided that we shoot the film in Anil's house, rather than
mine. The film is about a man who carries many unnecessary lifelong emotional blocks
within himself, so much so that he is enslaved by them. The genesis of this
idea was in a transformational course I was attending during those days conducted by '<a href="https://www.landmarkworldwide.com/" target="_blank">Landmark Education</a>'. In an one line explanation, those in Landmark Education believe that
"</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">people and the
communities, organizations, and institutions with which they are engaged have
the possibility not only of success, but also of fulfillment and greatness."
The 'transformative learning' the organization provides helps one to 'think and
act beyond existing views and limits." It was a world of possibilities,
the urge to make a film on this was great.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeHkdTmuSAlD0UWkPxte0-7krg2dC9L0ViO54TN2acGuwivWJxXE93La8HtZdCxmGRfTRikQDmifvZzg42IJPd1Kf9HBx2m7_eOyDVDomxuF1_q15wnb3i7zDJfAOdfSaGYYfV/s1600/vlcsnap-2019-01-08-12h13m50s625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="768" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeHkdTmuSAlD0UWkPxte0-7krg2dC9L0ViO54TN2acGuwivWJxXE93La8HtZdCxmGRfTRikQDmifvZzg42IJPd1Kf9HBx2m7_eOyDVDomxuF1_q15wnb3i7zDJfAOdfSaGYYfV/s320/vlcsnap-2019-01-08-12h13m50s625.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Actor Anil Pande</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Completed in 2004, '<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/out-of-tune.htm" target="_blank">Out of Tune</a>' dealt with the some of the blocks that exists within ourselves that
would not let us fulfill our full potential within this realm of possibilities.
Certain conscious / sub conscious decisions that we take as a reaction to
certain key events that we see as 'setbacks' at various stages in our lives,
have a tendency to put a limit to our full potential - like deciding for life
that no woman is trustworthy, when one of your girlfriend breaks up with you. The
film would not have a 'story' as such, but would end up talking about a concept. The challenge was to convert the concept selected into the visual and audio form. In 'Out of Tune' I took the absurd route, yet
again, to realise the thought that it represented and give the audience an experience of it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Like in '<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/the-hot-shot.htm" target="_blank">The Hot Shot</a>', here too the central character is a blue collared office-goer. The film
repeatedly shows his daily routine from the time he wakes up till his goes to
his office. He is sleeping, he wakes up, has tea, brushes himself, goes to the
toilet, dresses up and goes to his office. The absurd element incorporated into these normal sounding activities is
that in between he fills up his bags and suitcases with old newspapers. He
carries these bags and suitcases all the time and wherever he goes including when he goes to the toilet and to his office. A
'godly' voice-over narrates three major decisions that the person had taken in the
course of his life as a reaction to three events that had occurred with him -
events that he had considered as a setback. Each time we show the routine, the number
of bags that have the old newspapers in them increases, till one day he sees a
young boy playing freely, without any inhibitions and without any baggage. That
is when the man throws away all the bags he has been carrying and becomes a
free man.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5507728/" target="_blank">Manoj Pradhan</a> is a
cameraman colleague and a fellow FTIIian. One of his other interests, when he
is not doing camerawork, is to compose music. He gave me a pleasant thematic
music piece that could be used during the protagonist's daily routine sequences.
Each time the routine is repeated, the bags the man is holding increases. So
instinctively, I decided that the tune should slow down in speed progressively,
each time it is heard - till in the end it really sounds bad and out of tune. It
was this decision that made me title the film the way it is. Of course fearing
that Manoj would get a heart break with what I would be doing to his tune, I
did mention sheepishly to him about the indulgence. Fortunately for me, he was
game for it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9Lx-ob0XiNM" width="854"></iframe></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Out of Tune<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">'Out of Tune' is about little less than seven minutes in length and it has traveled to many
international Film Festivals, including the British Council Digital Film
Festival in 2004. Anil Pande later shifted to Kolkata, as I came to know years
later when I got an out of the blue phone call from him. I put forward a proposal that I would come to him with my camera to shoot another short film with
him in lead, this time in his Kolkata house. I even prodded him to pick up the
Uttarakhand feature length story yet again to give it a proper shape and a
logical production conclusion. Anil was preoccupied with the ups and downs of a
relationship that he was going through in Kolkata. I advised him accordingly to the best of my
ability, for whatever worth it was. That it was the last time we spoke to
each other speaks highly about the quality of the advise that I provided to him
that day. It could have been a subject for a short fiction film. I should thank him for persistently edging and pestering me for a role,
for had he not done so the two films that I made with him would never have been
made. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The two 'Anil Pande' short
fiction films also gave me the confidence that I could now plan something in
the longer version. I had successfully completed these two films with a minimal
unit. I had a camera and an edit machine in handy, there was now no excuse for
not making a longer version film. That I did with a film called 'Suddha' (The
Cleansing Rites) is a matter of a different write up. What includes in this one
is some things about another short fiction film that I made in 2006 called '<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/mani-bhai.htm" target="_blank">Mani Bhai Pass Hogaya?</a>' (Did Brother Mani Succeed?), produced by my alma mater, the Film and
TV Institute of India. This was probably the first time that someone was asking
me to do a short fiction film. It was not self funded, but a commissioned work. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
2006 batch of TV students were short of a direction student. Mangal Negi, a
fellow student while I was at FTII, was now heading the TV direction department. He requested me if I would be able to direct a short fiction film for a unit that just had
an editing, sound and camera student. By that time, I had already made my first
feature length film in fiction and was developing several others that included
a script that was about a married man who walks a tight rope between his
loyalty towards his incapacitated spouse and his own sexual needs, after
fifteen years of willful abstinence. As no producer was forthcoming for the
longer version, I thought I might as well make a shorter version of the script that
would involve a few sequences of the longer one. Such a short film would also
come in handy when I meet prospective producers to convince them about the longer
version. Didn't I mention earlier something to the effect that the short
fiction film is always the groom's man and not the groom himself? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6Z7CzDhik8Q" width="560"></iframe></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mani Bhai Pass Hogaya? (Did Mani Bhai Succeed?)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">'<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/mani-bhai.htm" target="_blank">Mani Bhai Pass Hogay</a>a?' had actors from the acting batch students at FTII - Sudhir Chaudhary,
Rasika Duggal, Sanjini Raval and Auroshikha Dey. The course had just restarted after
a long gap, a couple of years back. Actor handling became extremely easy,
as the selected actors knew exactly what was to be done and more importantly, the way it was to be done. The shy protagonist in the film is first shown
trying to romance with his female counterpart. The audience is made to believe
that the film involves a normal love story of a couple. But it is only in the
end we know his reality. The man comes back to his house to his paraplegic wife
and tells her what has transpired with the other woman, knowing well that the
wife cannot move or speak at all. The attempt was to build in an amount of
subtleness in every aspect in the film - in the acting, the music, the dialogues etc... The camera angles were normal, edit cuts were unobtrusive
and the narration pattern, smooth. Like in a O. Henry short story, the twist
only comes in the end. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And that '<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/mani-bhai.htm" target="_blank">Mani Bhai Pass Hogaya?</a>' is yet to be made into a longer film is the predictable double
twist. Henry saab would be turning in his grave.
</span></div>
</div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; text-align: right;"> (To be continued...)</span></span></div>
Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18863355.post-44577263838507877032019-01-07T12:48:00.000+05:302019-01-07T12:51:36.797+05:30The Short Fictional Journey - Part 1<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
(My foray into the short fiction format)</div>
<div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
The short fiction
movie format, like the short story its counterpart in literature, is a very
powerful mode of expression; and a tricky one too. The maker will have to be precise,
the luxury of meandering or dwelling on multiple aspects of the subject matter
does not arise, the extra detailing might have to be cut off; and many a times like
in a typical O. Henry style, a twist in the end is what is longed for. Mention
the word short film and the 1962 black and white film from The Netherlands 'Big
City Blues' directed by Charles Huguenot Vander Linden, the 1964 French movie
'An Incident at Owl Creek' directed by Robert Enrico or Julian Bigg's Canadian
film '23 Skidoo', immediately pops up in one's mind. So, do the films of the
Dutch film maker Bert Haanstra or the one and only Norman McLaren, the prolific
Canadian short film maker. </div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/29385821" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="https://vimeo.com/29385821">23 Skidoo</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/thenfb">National Film Board of Canada</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">But
the short format, like the documentary genre of movie making, is always the
bridesmaid and not the bride. These films are normally shown before the main feature
length fiction movies. Once a director makes a feature length fiction film, a </span>re look<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> at the shorter format is hardly the norm for him / her. Normally, we see
a </span></span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_908210710"><span style="color: #545454; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span id="goog_908210711"></span>Andrei </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Tarkovsky shor</span></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/">t<span id="goog_908210712"></span></a>,
a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zACGLjd9JNY" target="_blank">Satyajit Ray short</a> or a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs2RZewMuAg" target="_blank">Roman Polanski short </a>mainly because we have first
seen their feature length films and now want to grasp their graph that lead to
the longer format. There is hardly a 'market' for short fiction films.
Worldwide, only a few organizations like the <a href="https://www.nfb.ca/" target="_blank">National Film Board of Canada</a>
funds and promotes such movies. Even in the Indian National Awards ceremony,
the short film awardees are always seated in the last rows behind the longer
films awardees!!! And yes, graduation films in film schools are most often
shorts.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">'Gotala',
was my graduation film at the <a href="http://www.ftiindia.com/" target="_blank">Film & TV Institute of India</a> - a film school
situated in Pune, Maharashtra. Three years in this school had got me roasted by
freedom, liberty, European cinema, Louis Bunuel, G. Aravindan and Natyashastra.
'Gotala' was a culmination was all these. Briefly, the film was about Lord
Krishna coming down to earth through a film poster to woe a married woman and
take her back to the heavens, leaving behind a distraught husband and a puzzled
group of rigid secretive religious fundamentalists called 'Pandurangists' who seem
to be in a perennial state of waiting for a glimpse of their beloved lord.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
year was 1990. It was a time when the Shiv Sena, a political party in </span>Maharashtra<span style="font-size: 12pt;">, had already identified itself with the 'Hindutva' agenda, leaving
behind its anti South Indian plank. The shift had enabled it to form a
government in Maharashtra from 1995-1999. Three years of my childhood was spent
in Mumbai, earlier called Bombay, in the early seventies. That was when the Shiv
Sena's earlier avatar was almost at its peak. I still remember the expression
on my father's face, as he often narrated stories on how he and his South
Indian office colleagues escaped the wrath of the violent anti-south Indian
protesters. Two years after 'Gotala' was made, the Babri mosque in Ayodya was
demolished by a frenzied mob - some would say in a systematic way; and the
subsequent Mumbai riots occurred - the Sreekrishna Committee report indicted
the Sena Sena for its role in the later. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1dJ5EzqfOcgTarsoJXz0D8HOXMbl7ESNY1IEpxhxE3O3XZsnFptxDviyzcEukqpj82VmR603hNAW_mzx8tYo9JCBcjq1s-IRZmeDNaA3p3Gi2zHMx-Z-LrrV6hebKO0bjmtSU/s1600/Gotala+Positive+4rm+Gimp.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="325" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1dJ5EzqfOcgTarsoJXz0D8HOXMbl7ESNY1IEpxhxE3O3XZsnFptxDviyzcEukqpj82VmR603hNAW_mzx8tYo9JCBcjq1s-IRZmeDNaA3p3Gi2zHMx-Z-LrrV6hebKO0bjmtSU/s320/Gotala+Positive+4rm+Gimp.tif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Niraj Sah, Manisha Kamath in 'Gotala</div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">None
of these super serious elements are or were supposed to be reflected in 'Gotala'. The highly motivated
group of fundamentalists in the film are planning a major secretive operation for
which they wait to seek for an appointment from Lord Krishna, who unfortunately
for them, is more interested in romancing with a bored earthly housewife. It
was a surreal story that bordered on parody and the burlesque. So, I decided
not to shoot the film on real locations, instead decided to build a surreal set
in one of the studios at FTII. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Central
to this set was a wide road. On one side of the road at one end was a house
which just had a door and no walls. Opposite it was a stall that sold
cigarettes and paan, near which the ancient poet and saint Sant Tukaram sat and
prayed piously to Lord Krishna. By the side of the other end of the road were
the waiting 'Pandurangists', sitting on a few steps that led to nowhere. That
side of the road ended with a painted perspective ridden scenery of the theatrical kind - it had a picture that seemed to suggest the extension of the road set. All events
in the film - happening in the episodic but non-dramatic narrative structure - occurred
on and around this road. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
30 minute film was shot in black and white 35mm film stock. We had an option to
shoot in colour, but it would have had to be in 16mm stock and for twenty
minutes. Thanks to classmate Rajiv Katiyal, I got two <a href="https://nsd.gov.in/delhi/" target="_blank">National School of Drama</a>
graduates to act in my film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1133212/" target="_blank">Niraj Sah</a> and the late <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659241/" target="_blank">Nirmal Pandey</a>. A day before
the shoot, Nirmal even composed a multi-lingual post-modern song for the film
extolling the virtues of their beloved lord that which was to be used as an
anthem for the 'Pandurangists'. In the end of the film Lord Krishna goes back
to the film poster along with the lady he romances with. The poster takes off
to the skies, on to space where an astronaut is amazed to see it. Will immense
help from my cameraman Mathialagan in executing the special effects, it was fun
recreating the outer space within the walls of the studios.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
film was sent to the Second Mumbai Short Film Festival, as the Mumbai
International Film Festival for Shorts and Documentaries was called then. It
was not even sent for the statutory certification process, as the authorities
in FTII were apprehensive of the 'sensitive' subject. If I were to make this
film in present times, I would have probably been lynched by now - the times
that we live in. For quite some time, I did possess a VHS copy of the film, but
fungus on the tape had made the cassette unwatchable. Despite all these years,
the FTII has not yet digitized many of their graduation film including this
film, which is officially my first short fiction. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Technically,
my first short film was an eight minutes one that I had called 'Happy
Birthday'. The film happened when I was still studying in college in Udupi, in
the early part of 1980s. By then I had attended a few film appreciation courses
in Karnataka led by Satish Bahadhur and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0440424/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1" target="_blank">Girish Kasaravalli </a>and had thus decided
that I too can make films - that is when a friend promised to lend me his rare imported
VHS camera that his Dubai stationed father had gifted. I wrote the script, for
whatever worth it was and formed a team. Before the shooting, we hunted out for
a marriage video editor and asked him if he could edit the film for us. He
suggested that we shoot the film in a scripting chronological order so that the
film gets edited on camera itself. My cousin Ravi and his neighbor Prasad were
my partners in crime, apart from Ziyad, the camera owner.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimodFhZieVVMwPqNVBagWgUrQ4LEF9faEzKpO23DBUUcemA1GqemKUWalY4MQu9eeffr1n7tsY7Vaxlqtq1pGSt8o88wu2naftNrfHeTmW8AdtWtJGttK5O7wH4T3vDtMbDacX/s1600/Location.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="768" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimodFhZieVVMwPqNVBagWgUrQ4LEF9faEzKpO23DBUUcemA1GqemKUWalY4MQu9eeffr1n7tsY7Vaxlqtq1pGSt8o88wu2naftNrfHeTmW8AdtWtJGttK5O7wH4T3vDtMbDacX/s320/Location.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Location for 'Happy Birthday'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
apparent story was about a priest - working in a different town - who comes
back home on his young son's birthday only to find him dead. Later on, police
investigation reveals that the priest himself is the murderer - the motivation
for which is not clear to me to this date. After the completion of the shooting
Ziyad, if I remember well, on his own took the on-camera edited film to the
same marriage video editor whom we had seen during our pre-shooting days. The
editor volunteered to insert some 'suspense' and 'sad' sounding music happily taken
from mainstream movies whose VHS copies he had in his collection. I was very
upset with the choice of the music, but the technologists had their say, that
day. Fortunately, no copy of the film exists. If it did, the world would have known
that the traditional 'priest' had uncharacteristically worn a posh saturated
red coloured T-Shirt, a brand new jeans pant; and had horned a huge flashy
goggle - all</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">borrowed from Ziyad's
personal collection. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Immediately
after graduating from FTII, I had sub-produced and directed a few 'stories' for
the T.V. cultural magazine called 'Surabhi'. From the leftover money, I
purchased some 16 mm film raw stock and decided to make a short film. The
resultant was a five minute short called the 'The Hot Shot'. I went to Poona
and based myself within the secure confines of the FTII campus and started
working on the production. Film school classmates Manoj Nair and Gauri
Patwardhan too decided to make their own short films. Manoj was still in the
campus and Gauri was based in Pune. Those days, one had to get a permission
letter from 'The Indian Documentary Producer's Association' for the purchase of
film stock. By then I had become one. So, I took permission for the raw stock
purchase of the other two films too. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">We
hired a 16 mm camera from <a href="https://www.nfdcindia.com/" target="_blank">National Film Development Corporation</a> (NFDC) Mumbai
and completed our shooting one after another. My production manager for the
'Surabhi' shooting Sirish Joshi volunteered to execute this film too. He
brought in a very talented Marathi stage actor Vinay Edekar. Sirish also
arranged for the interiors of a house in Pune. Classmate Jogendra Panda agreed
to do the camerawork. He had just finished shooting his graduation film and was
thus willing. Post shooting, a super senior from the Institute Chandita
Mukerjee through her Comet Foundation was kind enough to let us use her editing
faculties and thanks to yet another senior working in the film industry Padmanabhan
'Paddy' we completed our sound mix at Aradhana studios. When we saw our films
in the Adlabs preview theaters, we were sure that we had become 'independent'
short film makers.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdtM6IRRfrgc15eU_LwG7h2FwFLnTqJpMaueIwiZ-QRFTJpKheLVqGGPwYDg8PiHrK_4Xygy_-m0nEPFPD2VCu-qMUMZ1csYZTsdNayDnAjtwm5SFRXEX-jXWC4KQ-BYU6oLYV/s1600/hot-shot.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdtM6IRRfrgc15eU_LwG7h2FwFLnTqJpMaueIwiZ-QRFTJpKheLVqGGPwYDg8PiHrK_4Xygy_-m0nEPFPD2VCu-qMUMZ1csYZTsdNayDnAjtwm5SFRXEX-jXWC4KQ-BYU6oLYV/s1600/hot-shot.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vinay Edekar in 'The Hot Shot'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">'<a href="http://www.sonkfilms.com/the-hot-shot.htm" target="_blank">The Hot Shot</a>' was about an office going blue collared guy who finds a still camera
in front of his house. He clicks some photos and pins them on to his board at
home. As he satisfactorily watches them, on the beat of gun sounds mysterious holes
appear on the photos - on all of them except the one which has a washerwoman in
it. Glad that at least one is intact, he goes back to the washerwoman, clicks
many photos of hers and comes back home to pin them on his board. Just when he
is satisfied that all is well, the mysterious holes appear on these photos too.
Disappointed, he puts the lens cap on and clicks a photo. The resultant blank
photo is pinned on to the board. He expects the holes to appear on it. It
doesn't. So, happily he starts clicking black photos. More and more of them
appear on the board.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
film had no dialogues and only music. Holes appearing on the photographs all by
themselves was a very unrealistic thing to attempt, in fact it was 'Bunuelistically'
surreal. And normally films deal with relationships between people. Here we had
a relationship between a man and his camera. I was dealing with the absurdity
of process of art. Many times wacky ideas need uncanny forms. It worked, the
film went to the Second Bombay Short film festival, </span>Dhaka<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Short Film Festival
and a couple other Indian film festivals. 'The Hot Shot' was made with the
leftover money from the TV work that I had done. The idea was that I'll follow
the same production and funding pattern in the later years to make more short
fiction films. But that simply did not happen.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">It
took almost twelve years for me to make my next short film of the fiction kind.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">(To be continued...)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
Ramchandra PNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00021098690419612286noreply@blogger.com0