aging and evolving
There was a time when people suggested that this angry-young-man should mellow down, or better, retire! And over the past years he did a bit of both;
but -- he also did a few other things while he was at it. From a unidirectional role player who almost always led you to guns and swords, Amitabh dispersed into a gala of characters; picking up threads of refined presentations -- Black and Sarkar to name a couple of works i recently caught him on. It is now that he starts to leave a yet-deeper mark in movie history.
Sarkar based on The-Godfather story, leads the two Bachchans along the roles of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. As a Bollywood movie, it has a few things which are rarely seen in mainstream cinema from that place. And, these are things that will help define a better bollywood movie -- out of its present cliched existance.
1) The movie is devoid of song-n-dance numbers.
2) Does not attempt to reinforce the hero-and-hapless-lady constructs.
3) Skips mexican-standoffs in the face of many opportunities.
That is a lot to say for one-hindi-movie.
Getting warmed up on the Indian movie angle is a nice time to notice another development in a different genre. Ian McDonald has -- relatively recently -- written a science-fiction work set in India of the future (2047 to be precise). This should be an interesting read -- meaning, i have not got my hands or eyes on it yet; what i have read are the reviews.
One thing strikes a chord somewhere though!
The Krishna-cops of this plot seem lifted right out of the Blade-Runner movie script (which itself is right around a Philip K Dick book -- not the focus of this writing at the moment).
Here we seem to have an adapted extension of the cliche by a British author to an Indian context. Hopefully, he has grown it into an interesting plot. Planning on reading River of Gods very soon.
but -- he also did a few other things while he was at it. From a unidirectional role player who almost always led you to guns and swords, Amitabh dispersed into a gala of characters; picking up threads of refined presentations -- Black and Sarkar to name a couple of works i recently caught him on. It is now that he starts to leave a yet-deeper mark in movie history.
Sarkar based on The-Godfather story, leads the two Bachchans along the roles of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. As a Bollywood movie, it has a few things which are rarely seen in mainstream cinema from that place. And, these are things that will help define a better bollywood movie -- out of its present cliched existance.
1) The movie is devoid of song-n-dance numbers.
2) Does not attempt to reinforce the hero-and-hapless-lady constructs.
3) Skips mexican-standoffs in the face of many opportunities.
That is a lot to say for one-hindi-movie.
Getting warmed up on the Indian movie angle is a nice time to notice another development in a different genre. Ian McDonald has -- relatively recently -- written a science-fiction work set in India of the future (2047 to be precise). This should be an interesting read -- meaning, i have not got my hands or eyes on it yet; what i have read are the reviews.
One thing strikes a chord somewhere though!
The Krishna-cops of this plot seem lifted right out of the Blade-Runner movie script (which itself is right around a Philip K Dick book -- not the focus of this writing at the moment).
Here we seem to have an adapted extension of the cliche by a British author to an Indian context. Hopefully, he has grown it into an interesting plot. Planning on reading River of Gods very soon.
2 Comments:
I wonder if the script of the movie -- Sarkar -- could have been handled a little more gently.
Now, is that because the movie has The-Godfather shadow?
The soundtrack was a little too rough to let the drama develop and grip tightly.
The editing felt patchy; scenes flipped as we were moved through events at a fast pace.
Camara angles and colors were strong, though the wide-angle felt a bit over used.
To top it off, movie doesn't have anybrain-dead FORCED emotions!
This doesn't mean I'm deviod of human emotions, but just that I prefer sublte ones than explicit ones, which anyway most of our current Bolly directors are incapable of creating. And yes, I too am of the opinion that, for GOD's sake, Amitabh should retire now! Out of my volition, I would have never attempted to watch this movie! Had it not been a company outing, I would have missed this fine movie.
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