Book Thoughts: BHANG JOURNEYS

Book: BHANG JOURNEYS | Author: AKSHAYA BAHIBALA | Publication: SPEAKING TIGER

With so much to offer in both fiction and non-fiction, Odisha has all the potential to be the base of literary journeys in the modern era. It’s unfortunate that very few works of current Odisha based writers, in today’s globalized world, travelled beyond the borders. One such book is Bhang Journeys by Akshaya Bahibala.

I first held a copy of Bhang Journeys several months ago. The fact that you know the author a bit and with whom you have had several interesting conversations and because you have already read his past books; would perhaps make you look forward to his next book even more that carries such a trippy name.

MSD – The Untold Story, that should not have been told…

[This post remained in draft for ages, posting it only now after remembering we had the innocence of Sushant Sing Rajput yet we could not bring out what could have been possible]

Some films are just not worth talking about. M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story – is one of them; a biography went horribly wrong. Yet the post may become long just because it’s all about namma MS Dhoni.

A wonderfully written piece about the doyen of English poetry from Odisha – Shri Jayanta Mahapatra.

Loving Unconditionally Is The Highest Form Of Life: Jayanta Mahapatra

Film Thoughts: Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Jaa Riya Hoon [India | 2018]

Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon by Anamika Haksar is one of those films that will trigger multiple thoughts and reactions, much beyond the social milieu, politics and emotions displayed within the film.

Film Thoughts: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence [UK/Japan | 1983]

“You are the victim of people who think they are right.” – from the film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence by the Japanese filmmaker Nagisha Oshima.

How deep and far reaching can this statement be? No matter how much I would like to write about the film, the above statement makes me think more on it on the philosophical paradigms based on the situation prevalent around us. Don’t we all see this coming true every time – the conflicts in war rift zones, the scars of a raped victim, the innocence that a childhood lost, the migrating mass of humans in search of an escape route from the tyrants, the swiftness with which a murder that took place in the name of food, the houses burnt in the name of God, the slow poisoning brainwash of technology over knowledge, the submission to mediocrity which rules the nest – all of these are just outcome of someone or the other who think they are right!

Development is fine, but at what cost?

Eminent senior journalist, social activist and editor of Samadrushti, Shri Sudhir Patnaik has said: “Democracy in our country is weak, as we have never fought for democracy; it has evolved through a number of stages. Our model of democracy is growth-oriented and the emphasis is on resource exploitation”. [source: wikipedia]

Amrita Pritam: A roar of love and valor

What a splendid writeup on Amrita Pritam – a force that this generation is yet to be aware of.

reflection

Turn the pages of modern history and see how many women have actually brought a revolution in thoughts, in love, and in life through writings. Very few, isn’t it? And if there had to be one woman among them all to top the list, it would definitely be Amrita Pritam.

Pic courtesy: http://www.azquotes.com

Amrita Kaur, better known as Amrita Pritam, was born on August 31, 1919, in Gujranwala, Pakistan. She lost her mother when she was only 11 years old and that is when she put into words all her grief. At the age of 16, she got her first book published, Amrit Lehran, an anthology of poems and got married to Pritam Singh, an editor, around this time.

“खुदा जाने —
उसने कैसी तलब पी थी 
बिजली की लकीर की तरह 
उसने मुझे देखा ,
कहा —
तुम किसी से रास्ता न मांगना 
और किसी भी दिवार को 

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Film Thoughts: IYE – THE OTHERS [India | 2018]

IYE – The Others is cinema.

IYE – The Others is a dream.

IYE – The Others is a surreal reality.

One of the finest films from last year, IYE – The Others is an experience that will stay with you much longer than one would have imagined. The fact that I am writing about this film almost after 6 months of my first viewing of the film is a testimony to it. The film was screened at the Kolkata International Film Festival last year.

If once is happenstance, twice is coincidence then thrice is???

I fondly remember an incident of my sister during her school days. She was too young to understand the seriousness of those things which generally concerns grown ups. It was her school annual function and the students from her class have been very beautifully dressed up to enact a play on Little Krishna. My sister was playing Krishna in her childhood and her role was to walk up to made up kitchen on the stage and start eating the “maakhan” (butter) from a pot. Her teacher decided to keep real maakhan inside the pot so that she knows there is reward in enacting the role. My aunt and her mother who was also a teacher in the school was going to sing the bhakti (devotional) songs in the name of Krishna during the role play. As the play began and my sister entered the stage, she went to the pot and was engrossed so much with the eating and licking of the cream that she forgot that she had to exit.

The Politics of Cinema

“The Accidental Prime Minister” has kicked in a controversy, probably something that the film intended to do as well. Public, media and politicians are thrown into both ends of the spectrum – something that we saw earlier with Udta Punjab and Padmaavat.

As a filmmaker, I do not subscribe to the idea of censorship in cinema nor the display of political hatred through force and demanding ban on such films. A film once made and passed by CBFC should be eligible for public viewing and the viewers must decide the fate of the film. Legal recourse is something that any one aggrieved can take up.

On the other side, in India and in a way, the industry majorly manufactures propagandist films which try to play with popular sentiments only. And this is not new – good over evil, college love stories, cat and mouse themes etc are all done and dusted but would still be in the usual recipe. Cinema as such largely is absent. An Om-Dar-Ba-Dar or a Kaafiron Ki Namaaz (talking about Hindi films) will continue to be a rarity. However, off late, films have moved from social propaganda to political propaganda. And this where the game becomes more dangerous.

While political documentaries which have negligible scope to fictionalize are dealt with an iron hand, fiction based films these days are becoming political tool with a hope to sway the masses or project larger than life images. The honesty in cinema, the intention of makers and the integrity of actors are all diluted in between. Am afraid if tomorrow, another political party comes to power they may use this for their agenda too.

And The Accidental Prime Minister from its trailer looks to me a film made with quality mimicry artists. Only that cinema is certainly going to suffer. I can only hope the audience will demand cinema rather than propaganda (be it from any party).