Writer's Blog

Transient Thoughts

Saturday, September 06, 2003

On Tuesday I slipped away for office in the afternoon to watch a movie I knew was good - Shatranj ke Khiladi. I had seen parts of it with my Mom on TV sometime. Of cousrse I made up by working in the night ( Supervisor, in case you are reading this). It was an impulsive decision really, and there was a kutti feeling of guilt when I got home, was I comitting one of the seven deadly sins - sloth?

Anyways, the movie was worth every bit of the effort. I found out that it was based on a story by Premchand and directed by Satyajit Ray. What else does one want? The narration was done by Amitabh's voice.

The music, the sets, the costumes, the props and the acting - all perfect.

The movie is set in 18th or 19th Century I forget which - during Dalhousie's times. It is set in Lucknow. The focus of the story shifts between the contradictions facing the King of Awadh ( Amzad Khan )- he is a patron of music and dance and given to the good things in life besides being a poet, and can't cope with the politics of the East India chaps - and the lives of two Chess playing friends (Sanjeev Kumar and Sayeed Jaffri), both Jagirdars. OK I can't possibly even begin to describe the intricacies of the plot. The above was just to give an idea.

It is one of those few movies which you can call complete and flawless. You watch them and you feel guilty for having watched and enjoyed half-baked movies like Koi Mil Gaya (KMG is Innnovative ok, different fine, funny yes, but still half-baked). Movie Makers don't seem to set themselves high enough standards anymore. Nor it seems, does the audience. Together they are pushing the Hindi movie industry to Devil knows where. There is no honest story telling anymore. Today's Hindi movie is just an assortment of entertainment modules - a joke there, a song here, and dance next all set to the background of visually pleasing foreign locales. No film is intended to leave a lingering taste in the mouth ( some do leave a bad one though) . The only purpose of the movie seems to be to grab the audience attention for 3 hours.

This leads me to think: What is Perfection? What is the purpose of Art? What should be an artists goal? Will think later.

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