Sunday, March 26, 2006

Ray the Rockstar! (Part II)

Pather Panchali...

overwhelmingly beautiful...the imagery, the narration, and the soulful depths to which the camera could carry the human eye...and of course let's not forget the simple humour...subtle and yet very lifting...

simply love the way ray gives birth to hope everytime you feel let down by the miseries of poverty weighing down apu and his family...

and what a way to signify the birth of hope...tadpoles creating ripples as they sprint about in the water...water lillies swaying...durga planting a new sapling as she grows to see to new desires...and the finality of it with the lashing rain....and even as you begin to hope...it's that very rain that takes it away from you...and then the celebration of the human spirit which refuses to let go...there's always a new beginning...no matter what.

you have the watch the extent to which ray belives in continuity...for instance the first scene in which durga lifts kittens out of the pot to feed them water...they are there,frocliking...falling over each other...or just simply there... till the end of the whole sequence...
and the long cuts...awesome...and despite that you never really get bored...coz of the variety of shots he has used...and when he zooms in slowly to capture the sorrow or the excitement in the mother's face or Apu's wonder...

the humour is very subtle...and like i said...simple...whether it is the trumpet blower's quivering moustache...as apu looks up at him...or even the old aunt who is constantly bickering with the mother and keeps threatening to leave...her expressions are hilarious!

the musical score (composed by Ravi Shankar in a record time of 9 hours) proves to a fine accompaniment to the narrative...builds and lifts at times and at places...more than substitutes for missing dialogues...

If there was a dignified way to show human poverty...it was definitely Ray who could show it...so much so that the audience all over the world no matter how far away from the early years of the century and the dwellings of poverty they may be...they cannot help but empathise with the family...

4 Comments:

At 10:20 PM, Blogger Vibha said...

to Ma!
coz' i couldn't take my eyes off Sarbajaya..Durga and Apu's mother..
miss you!

 
At 5:29 AM, Blogger Sahar said...

oh the Ray... I love the Ray

 
At 2:32 PM, Blogger shreya said...

I know! I loved Sorbajoya! Man, even her walk in a torn saree was dignified!!! What a Woman. Miss India...hehe.

And didnt you love that scene, where the school teacher keeps yelling at the kids!! Had me in splits!!

Though I must say that the only way to watch the entire trilogy is in one shot, all together, and all alone.

The humour the humour the humour...oh!

You have to watch his film on Tagore short stories- Do Kanya. The first one, based on Tagore's tale The Postmaster, is superb!!! Betrays his advertising days, I think...also coz its one of my fav. Tagore short stories...

But my absolute fav. thing about him is the way he depicts children, closely followed by his music...he's written his own music for some of his films...

And please tell me you're watching Charulata!! My fav. woman...what a chick! ;)

I could go on...but i'll just wait for some more feedback from you...

Love.

 
At 7:41 PM, Blogger Vibha said...

shreya!
all those movies will be watched in summer (joyie ke kripa se...) hehehe..
watched shatranj ke khiladi...man..what a script!!hilarious...
and that school teacher scene in Pather Panchali had me in splits too..especially the characteristic scratching of potbelly and don't miss the growling...hahahaha...

one more reason why i couldn't take my eyes off Sarbojaya..she looks exactly like my ma! couldn't stop yapping about it to ma when she called up and now she wants to watch the film too..:)

shreya..what happened to those cds that you picked up in cal?

mirchii!
loads of love to the girl i hope to meet sometime...

your post on the list of presents for your friends and relatives in india had me in splits...especially the "bina daant waali nani" and the "peele baal waale nanna"

stay well girl!! and don't you dare stop blogging...

 

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