The Narnian Wonder World

The Chronicles of Narnia-I is an amazing film. I watched it now only because I wanted to watch the sequel-Prince Caspian, which has received rave reviews worldwide. It is by no means a children’s film only, and even if it is, why this long-held distanced opinion about movies catering to children’s delight? They are far better than movies replete with sex and violence.

The movie is really a fantasy world story where a witch has ruled over the land of Narnia for many years. The totalitarian rule unleashed by the self-appointed queen has turned the once-beautiful land into a veritable icy zone. There is a great lion, Azlan, who the people look up to help them overturn the queen’s oppressive rule. But according to a prophecy, the victory can not be achieved without the help of four humans; and these four humans are four children protagonists in the movie.

The children are lovely too, the cutest – Lucy. They all are different emotive beings so reminiscent of our own characters. There is one solicitous but domineering character; another one wanting to establish his own against him; a girlish morally-bossy one; and a refined pure kiddy soul. They experience a very similar nature of their original world–the fight of evil against good- in the land of Narnia, and despite their initial reluctance, join forces with Azlan to fight and defeat the witch. A lovely sleep-time story, but told in a visually spectacular way. The scenic beauty rendered on the screen is instantly captivating.

Hollywood movies are masters in telling stories just through their stills and music. Bollywood, for its hearty self, has never wanted to excel on storyline and technological refinement. Hope they learn these good aspects. And no offence from me, at least, in aping movies like Chronicles of Narnia, for they are refreshing treats to eyes and heart. I really wanna watch the second part now.

Dogs of War

With my wonted way of browsing the Internet intermittently during office hours, I opened the rediff site to have a look at the headlines. Below the top 5-6 news items, there was this line - ‘Shahrukh licking at my feet’, glaringly conspicuous with its content. Rediff had succeeded….

It is no news at all if a dog licks at someone’s feet. But if the dog happens to be ‘Shahrukh’ and its owner, ‘Aamir’, then it is a news of the most deviant and sensational kind, especially if it comes directly from the horse’s mouth – the mouthpiece blog of Aamir Khan. I too was taken aback by reading the news and had an immediate doubt over its veracity. I opened the blog which I am a regular reader of. But the site was down, further lending credence to the arresting and instantly abominable words written by Aamir. Anyway, I read it in the night after office hours, and the words were literatim as in the news article on the rediff website.

At that point of time, I didn’t know how to react. Aamir had just written something which he always stood against – to take media leverage to promote himself in a cheap way. It immediately struck discordant notes among his die-hard fans, me included, as was evident from the trenchant comments underneath that blog item, ‘Settlers of Panchgarhi’. The news might be exactly true that the previous owner of the house which Aamir bought in Panchgarhi had named his dog after Shahrukh in reverence. But to mention it in public with such gibing ways was an absolute low-kind affair from Aamir. I know it looked so tasteless because it came from the most unexpected person. Probably we all are reading too much into it. May be Aamir wrote all this in his usual whacky jest, but I can’t believe that he didn’t know that this would create a furore. Media are having a field day already, and here is I believe Aamir too succeeded ….

Before the release of TZP, Aamir had stirred a hornet’s nest by calling ‘Black’ an insensitive film and taking on ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ openly ( a favourite past time for all now). He did manage to get a high-falutin spotlight on his movie. Right now, his new home production movie, ‘Jaane Tu’, is getting released in a few days. Is he wielding the same tactics? I am indeed cynical, pardon me for that.

My ‘over the top’ - to use his favourite phrase to lambaste AB’s acting in Black – reaction gets more justified for me because it places him in the same loathsome zone as SRK’s. And I don’t like it, if it involves my real-life heroes. Aamir is still my favourite because he is the best. Nobody can take that spot on the pedestal. But Aamir, you should understand, there is more to it that meets the eyes, the eyes that look up to you for every act.