prithvi bana: an apotheosis of shakespearian fool

'That, of course, is the great secret of the successful fool - that he is no fool at all.'

-Isaac Asimov, Guide to Shakespeare.

A discerning reader of Shakespeare can't help but draw parallels between Shakespearian dramatic world and the phantasmagoric hindi cinema. However, our traditional fools (read comedians), much unlike those of shakespeare, have rarely risen above slapstick comedy, horseplay and bawdy language.

In recent years, however, this one-dimensional, monochromatic "flat" character has not only gained dimensions but also colours. The apotheosis of which could be seen in Anurag Kashyap's "Gulaal", where we encounter subversive songs and sarcasm dripping tirades of Prithvi Bana, perhaps the lone voice of conscience in the general melee of 'blood and mire', underneath whose apparently foolish and meaningless acts, we discover acerbic wisdom, the efforts and travails of a man forced to be relegated to the background by the people racing to fulfill their vested interests, ventilating their angst or satisfying their bruised ego.

Much like Shakespearian fool, he comments incessantly on the events, unremittingly trying to change them... but, much like Shakespearian fool, he is also rendered incapable of altering the course of events and 'restoring the wasteland'..

slumdog millionaire: confessions of a movie addict :-)

my first reaction to the movie was of extreme uneasiness and revulsion... and an overwhelming desire to escape once again to the world of "twilight" (the movie i watched a few hours before), to savour the sweet slow romance, to be oblivious to the stench, squalor, sordidness of slums... infact to be the oblivious of their very existence and to the fact that the world is not a very nice place to be in, if one is left all by herself to fend for... in the movie we follow the protagonist jamaal and "his two fellow musketeers" in their travails and vicissitudes, almost in a picaresque manner... imagine a life where even survival becomes a fight and only the fittest survive...others are blinded to gain alms or raised to satisfy others' lusts....

infact i concur with an excellent observation of a friend of mine when he said that had it not been for his older pragmatic (though often deceiving ) brother, jamaal may have also been preyed upon.The initial revulsion at the grossness of jamaal's passion for amitabh bachchan and the deluge of expletives wore off gradually as we travel back and forth in time to discover and marvel at each anecdote which comes along with his each correct answer... the stories gory and incredible, tear jerking and goosebumps raising!! the demonism of maman, the goon who blinded little kids seemed no different to me from the spohisticated malice of the host of the show. infact the entire world seemed to be such a wrong place to be in. And amidst all this The thing that touched me the most in the movie was jamal's unceasing love for latika, the hindu girl, for whom he walked many many extra miles..the girl for whom he dared to trespass the red light areas and even the house of a local DON.. It was very heart warming to see such lambent love  even if it exists merely in literature and cinema. 

Supported by a very powerful background score, this movie lived upto the expectations that were built around it. However i didn't find the usual mellifluence of Rehman in the songs of the movie. but then again, to give the devil his due, i think the songs were commensurate with the social strata it was depicting.... which brings me to yet another very disturbing question. Is it a mere coincidence that the west loves all those movie which either show india as a land of mysticism or as that of abject poverty? or are we being the victim to yet another kind of "orientalism"?? The image of the seamy side of india is being endorsed deliberately or unwittingly?? its almost like most indians believing every pakistani wearing pathani suit, chanting anti-india slogans, sitting amidst rubble and Ak-47S in dilapidated squalid buildings which have a crescent made rising from their dome. As the suave charm of islamabad is very much a reality, so is the rising middle class of india, something consipicously absent in the film. Then why is it that the west appreciates only such images which present india in a very unprepossessing light. Many of us would argue about the truth of these images and would tell me that they are a fact and not fiction....something i can't deny in even my rose-coloured image of india. my only problem is why only such images are endorsed and appreciated... all in name of realism...

All in all, the movie makes one think a number of things which one has probably shirked for so long.. it takes you right in to the middle of squalor, the poverty, the ugliness and all those things that makes a common man and not to mention the government uncomfortable. And yet the feel-good element which takes jamal from rags to riches inspite of all his travails and troubles,  manages to warm us up as we join the throngs of crowd to cheer him and the invincible spirit of man. i hail the movie with both thumbs up!! 

the multi-tasking indian women

An eight armed Goddess!!  With a ladle in one hand, while a laptop adorns the other, a diaper blooming on her open palm as she cradles her little child in the crook of her other arm. A watering can dangles from those deft fingers, as she balances the tray of cookies and other goodies, and tries answering the phone call of her boss, with one gloved hand making its way for the cake baking in the oven. 

No, its not an animated movie with special effects, nor has Goddess Durga, the primeval feminine "shakti" condescended to grace thee with her presence!! Its the image that conjures up in my mind almost magically, the minute the phrase "multi tasking indian woman" is mentioned.

Being a woman in India is as challenging if not more than being one in another country with tons of laundry to be done, shopping to be shopped, that delectable sumptuous platter to be presented as per the preferance of pizza loving billu and pinki, "dal roti" sasu maa, "mughlai" hubby, and thai curry- ardent  guest who had chosen to make himself "atithi deva" that very day and would very much like to encroach upon bhabhi ji's hospitality.. :-)

and to top it all, imagine those incessant calls from the boss  ( even when the leave has been duly taken), for this and that and this!! while the little "slice of her heart" clamours for attention and the darling husband playing romantic by losing all his shirt buttons!! 

India, a society in transition, still has to wake up to the idea of fair divison of labour as with the educational and economic advancement of the woman, the "best" of both the worlds is "blessing"  her with the windfall.

Therefore, the multi-tasking "superwoman" goes round and round, using all her wits and not to mention every ounce of her energy to complete her Sisyphus- tasks only to find many more springing up as from the little droplets of evil blood in ancient lores,  many headed Hydras gestate!! the demons which need a goddess with her eight arms to combat and to be finished!!

Having proven their mettle in ever field, Indain women have to crusade  against a more formidable foe. Having conquered prejudices, which doubted her capabilities, she now has to conquer "heightened expectations" which prove a more arduous task than any of those given to Herakles himself..

The expectation of being an exemplary leader or a helpful team mate at the work place, along with being an equally dexterous housewife on the domestic front... the expectation of being an understanding peer and following the ideals of being a perfect wife, which as per indian tradition are  "to counsel her man like a judicious magus, to run errands for him like a slave girl, to feed him like his mother would and to pleasure him like a courtesan"

But the question that arises is whether any human being - especially the one that has been called "the weaker sex" for such a long time, really capable of accompolishing all these tasks, while maintaining her cheery benignity and not to forget her makeup- those waxed arms with french manicured nails??

Is it humanly possible for her,   "the weaker vessel" to swim among the sharks just like her man does at her work place and yet must come home all smiling to do a sink full of dirty dishes and basket full of laundry clothes?? Is it humanly possible for her to bring out of her cornucopian horn (or akshayapatra if u prefer), toothsome food which would please the varying palates??

If its not humanly possible and yet she accompolishes these herculean tasks, then the epithet - "eight armed durga" is hardly a misnomer!! :-)

p.s.  i started this one as a serious essay but its just that i feel too blithe right now to add a didactic note to it :-)