Mumbai Film Festival 2023

L'edizione 2023 del Mumbai Film Festival si svolge dal 27 ottobre al 5 novembre. Nel corso della cerimonia d'apertura, Priyanka Chopra consegnerà a Luca Guadagnino il premio Excellence in Cinema (International). Marco Müller presenzierà all'evento. Il 29 ottobre Guadagnino terrà un seminario aperto al pubblico, in compagnia di Anupama Chopra. A seguire, un evento organizzato in suo onore dalla Tiger Baby, la casa di produzione di proprietà di Zoya Akhtar e Reema Kagti. 

RASSEGNA STAMPA/VIDEO (aggiornata al 6 novembre 2023)

- Video ufficiale

- Bellocchio, Rohrwacher e Sollima portano il nostro cinema in India, Cristiana Allievi, Sette, 23 ottobre 2023. Intervista concessa da Anupama Chopra:

'Quest’anno l’impronta italiana sarà forte. A festeggiare 20 anni di vita del festival nella capitale del cinema di Bollywood saranno tre grandi come Marco Bellocchio, Alice Rohrwacher e Stefano Sollima, e non solo: a far parte dello staff di selezione sono due noti professionisti del nostro cinema [Marco Müller e Paolo Bertolini]. (...) 

«In India tutti i cinefili conoscono il cinema di Antonioni, Rossellini, Fellini. E pensando alla generazione successiva, siamo molto legati a Bellocchio, Luca Guadagnino, Nanni Moretti... Il nostro pubblico non ci avrebbe mai perdonato l’assenza di questi registi, quest’anno soprattutto quella di Marco Bellocchio». (...)

Cosa rappresenta un Oscar per il cinema indiano?

«Gli Oscar sono fantastici, (...) ci piace capire come l’Occidente guarda ai nostri film. Ma abbiamo un pubblico enorme e non abbiamo bisogno di conferme, quello che è importante, con vittorie come quella di RRR, è che apre le porte a un’intera industria: in molti iniziano a dire “non sapevo che i film indiani potessero essere così divertenti...”».'

- Mumbai Film Festival Opens With Glamour From Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Honors for Luca Guadagnino and Mani Ratman, Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 ottobre 2023:

'A showreel of Guadagnino’s work - I Am Love, Call Me By Your Name, and the upcoming Challengers, starring Zendaya - was played before Chopra Jonas presented him with a trophy, praising his filmography for its “stunning portrayal of deeply human relationships - the nature of love, identity, and the cinema of desire.” Guadagnino noted from the stage that he was visiting India for the very first time - he had spent the afternoon sightseeing around Mumbai with former Venice and Rome film festival head Marco Müller, also on hand for the event - while hinting that he already felt inspired to try to make a film in the country. “So many arresting images already have come to me,” he said, adding, “I like nuance and I like to see what happens when people interact in a space, so hopefully one day I will be able to achieve that here”.'

27 ottobre 2023

- Luca Guadagnino to be Celebrated at Mumbai Event, Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 28 ottobre 2023: 

'Festival director Anupama Chopra said: “Luca Guadagnino’s oeuvre is extraordinary. As we felicitate him with Jio MAMI Excellence in Cinema Award this year, we’re delighted to host a celebration along with Tiger Baby in his honor. The gathering is a chance for the South Asian talent to engage with him.” (...) The Tiger Baby team said: “We are so delighted to celebrate Luca Guadagnino. We are huge fans of his work and we aren’t the only ones. There are many filmmakers like us in the industry who will get a now have the opportunity to interact with him and let him know that he will always welcomed at Jio MAMI and in India”.'

- Luca Guadagnino had said no to direct Call Me By Your Name: 'I didn't want to do another movie about rich people', Hindustan Times, 30 ottobre 2023.

- Video Filmmaking Masterclass with Luca Guadagnino, Film Companion, primo novembre 2023.

- Nel sito LaScimmiaPensa, il 6 novembre 2023 Carlo Rinaldi riporta alcune dichiarazioni di Guadagnino raccolte da The Hindu: ''Interrogato sul fatto se il cinema indiano abbia influenzato le sue opere, (...) ha risposto: “Guardo molti grandi film, ma la mia formazione nel cinema indiano è quasi classica. Conosco i grandi capolavori e amo alcuni dei film contemporanei. Ma in termini di influenza, se c’è, è probabile che sia inconscia”. Sceglie La moglie sola [Charulata] (...) di Satyajit Ray (...) come uno dei suoi preferiti e lo definisce così: “È uno dei grandi ritratti della solitudine e delle emozioni femminili. È bellissimo”.'

Marco Müller

Jacqueline Fernandez con Andrea Bocelli e con Selena Gomez in Toscana

Tre giorni fa i media indiani hanno pubblicato alcune fotografie che ritraggono Jacqueline Fernandez in Toscana, in compagnia di Selena Gomez e di Andrea Bocelli. In quell'occasione il cantante italiano ha improvvisato una mini esibizione. Il commento di Jacqueline rivolto a Bocelli: 'You have given me the most beautiful memory that I will forever cherish! I feel like I’m still dreaming'. Altre immagini nell'articolo Jacqueline Fernandez spotted hanging out with Selena Gomez in Tuscany. See pics, Hindustan Times, 20 settembre 2023.

Michael Douglas e Catherine Zeta-Jones a Delhi

Michael Douglas e Catherine Zeta-Jones, in compagnia di Anil Kapoor, hanno partecipato ieri a all'evento Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2019, organizzato a Delhi. Catherine e Anil hanno anche danzato insieme sul palco.

Catherine Zeta-Jones says she’s obsessed with Om Shanti Om, dances with Anil Kapoor on film’s song at HTLS 2019, Hindustan Times: 

'Actor Catherine Zeta-Jones has confessed that she is obsessed with the 2007 Hindi musical Om Shanti Om, and knows it ‘verbatim’. (...) “My friends Shah Rukh and Farah are going to be very happy,” Kapoor said. (...) “My kids have been brought up singing Om Shanti Om,” Zeta-Jones said, while her husband, actor Michael Douglas, nodded next to her. “It’s true,” he said, and added, “On Christmas, everyone in our country sings Christmas carols, our house sings all the songs from Om Shanti Om.” “I’m a big Bollywood fan,” Zeta-Jones said, adding that she would have loved to do a typical Hindi song-and-dance film in her career. “I don’t think people understand my obsession with Om Shanti Om,” she continued, suggesting that it would have made for a wonderful Broadway musical. “But I can’t play it because I’m not Indian,” she said regretfully'.

Churni Ganguly: Nirbashito not only about Taslima Nasreen

Nirbashito è l'acclamato film scritto, diretto e interpretato dall'attrice Churni Ganguly (moglie del regista Kaushik Ganguly) al suo debutto dietro la macchina da presa. Nirbashito si ispira liberamente alla vicenda personale della scrittrice bengalese Taslima Nasreen che vive in esilio dal 1994. Non è chiaro se la pellicola sia già stata distribuita nelle sale indiane (almeno nel Bengala occidentale) oppure no, ma quest'anno si è comunque aggiudicata il National Award per il miglior film in lingua bengali. Trailer. 

Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa dalla regista a Anindita Acharya, pubblicata il 14 agosto 2015 da Hindustan Times. Nirbashito not only about Taslima Nasreen: Churni Ganguly:

'Nirbashito, which is about freedom of expression, was adjudged the best feature film in Bengali at the National Awards on March 24. The same day, the Supreme Court also struck down Section 66A of IT Act (which allowed arrest for offensive content on the internet).

Yes, it was a special day and I will never forget the date. After it was confirmed that Nirbashito has been conferred the National Award, I immediately called up Taslima. (...) She told me that the Supreme Court has scrapped 66A of IT Act. Freedom of expression won that day.

The film bears a strong resemblance to the life of Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen. Yet, you haven't named the protagonist in the film.

This is not a biopic on Taslima Nasreen. I have already mentioned that earlier. Since it's not a biopic, I haven't given the protagonist a name. A lot of fiction has been weaved into the story. The film talks about the power of woman. Her struggles start the very day she is born. If a woman has an opinion, she will be ostracised, which is also a kind of exile. A country comprises men and women. If we take away the freedom of expression from a woman, it's also a kind of exile... it's the death of democracy. If I can't express my opinion freely, I gradually cease to form opinions. Even in today's society, women hesitate to form a free opinion. So, the film speaks for those women who have gone ahead and expressed their opinion. It speaks of gender equality and patriarchy. Many women who can't protest have found a voice in Taslima. So, the film is dedicated to every woman.

Why did you choose the subject for your debut film?

The banishment of Taslima inspired me. She leads a claustrophobic life yet never stops voicing her opinion. Kaushik (Ganguly) had earlier thought of making a film on the subject. We have been toying with the idea for a long time. Somehow it didn't happen. I told him that I want to work on the idea. The concept of the film might make people think but there's nothing controversial in the film.

Everything about exiled author, Taslima Nasreen, is controversial.

All I can say is that has a human story. It speaks of motherly love that the author has for her pet cat. I have given an insight into the exiled author's life through her poetry. Whenever we speak of Taslima, we tend to bring in controversial elements into it. But at the end of the day she is a human being and I have tried to explore those facets of her personality. The controversial elements of her life have garnered a lot of attention, so I didn't feel the need to explore them again. There are scenes where we present Taslima's opinion too. It's a balanced film. One must know what goes against her and also what she stands for. However, I don't endorse banishment. I believe you can have an opinion not similar to her opinion, but there are other ways to answer that. There's a dialogue in the film which says burning vehicles on the road is not a way to protest. There's another dialogue which says invariably that sword wins. But I believe the pen should win. There can be debates, write ups but not banishment.

Banishment reminds us of author Salman Rushdie and artiste Maqbool Fida Husain.

One has the freedom of expression and at times, it might hurt another person. But he or she shouldn't be ostracised. It's not possible to pacify everyone. Banishment is not the way. There has to a softer way to deal with it. When you ban a film, the curiosity to watch the film increases manifold. So, whenever the film is available on the internet, everyone jumps in to watch it. My film is a tribute to Maqbool Fida Husain. Salman Rushdie also gets mentioned in a pivotal scene.

What was Taslima Nasreen's reaction after watching the film?

It was an emotional moment for her. She didn't react to the fact that we haven't used her name because she knew the film has a lot of fiction. We have taken cinematic licence to make the film.

What made you cast yourself in the lead role?

Initially, I didn't want to cast myself in my debut film. I wanted to take somebody who bears resemblance to Taslima. During the narration, a few of my friends from the film fraternity told me that I am apt to play the character. Since I was also the director, I had to write a lot of directorial inputs in the script so that my team had no difficulty in understanding my suggestions while shooting the film.

The concept of the film belongs to Kaushik Ganguly. How did he help you while making the film?

After I narrated the first draft of the film, he was so pleased that he wanted to make a film on it. But I refused to part with it (smiles). When we went into pre-production, he was busy with Apur Panchali. Both of us shared the same directorial team and it was chaos. He went away with the directorial team to shoot for Khaad. I was really upset at one point. But later, he was proud of the fact that I had managed everything on my own'.

35 years on, the Sholay fire still burns

[Archivio] 

La locandina è pura meraviglia e ne vorrei una gigantografia a casa. Il film è un magnifico classicone. Amitabh Bachchan è DIO e ciò vi basti. Insomma: impossibile averne abbastanza di Sholay, il titolo più celebre e amato della cinematografia popolare in lingua hindi e forse del cinema indiano. Il 24 luglio 2010 Hindustan Times pubblicava un bell'articolo, 35 years on, the Sholay fire still burns, dedicato alla pellicola:

 'It drew its inspiration from multiple Hollywood movies but went on to become the quintessential Indian film, perfectly balancing drama and tragedy, romance and violence, comedy and action. (...) Sometimes described as an Indian curry western, Sholay is still a reference point for Indian cinema and impossible to pin down to any one genre. (...) Director Ramesh Sippy was called a magician for the spell he cast. (...) "We had no idea that this will become such a huge film. We conceived an idea and when we started working on the screenplay, gradually it dawned on us that the film has more than two important characters," Javed Akhtar, who co-scripted the cult film with Saleem Khan, told IANS. "After 35 years, even the minor characters are used in ads, promos, films and sit coms," he said.

Ironically, there were few takers when Sholay, which translates to fire, released Aug 15, 1975. At three hours and 20 minutes, it was deemed too long. But, in an era where there was no television and no effective visual marketing tools, word of mouth worked. It ran for five years straight at Mumbai's Minerva theatre, for instance. "No multistarrer worked as Sholay did. It's got everything. It was a complete package. Initially, in the first two weeks, it didn't do well but it picked up from the third week onwards and became an overnight sensation," said trade analyst Taran Adarsh. "It remains the box office gold standard, a reference point for both the Indian film-going audience and the film industry. For Sholay is not merely a film, it is the ultimate classic," film critic Anupama Chopra wrote. (...)

Technologically, too, the movie was one of its kind - Sholay was India's first 70mm film and also the first stereophonic sound movie. (...) Produced by G.P. Sippy at a budget of about Rs.3 crore at that time, it was completed by Ramesh Sippy over a period of two-and-a-half years. It was released with as many as 250 prints. Scriptwriter duo Salim-Javed wrote themselves into posterity, their dialogues being mouthed across the country. They were at their creative best, from scripting action scenes, to flavouring it with romance and comedy, they served the tastiest ever curry for Indian audiences. (...) Sholay still has to its credit a standing record of 60 golden jubilees across India. It was the first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate a silver jubilee at over 100 theatres across the country. The plaudits have never stopped. In 1999, BBC India declared it as the film of the millennium. Its run at the Bollywood box office even caught the attention of the Guinness Book of World Records, where it was inducted for its five-year run'.

Onir: Don't censor my views

Vi segnalo un contributo significativo del regista Onir, pubblicato da Hindustan Times il 19 luglio 2013. Don’t censor my views:

'The gay man in Hindi cinema has been primarily represented as an overtly feminine and sexed-up man. There is nothing wrong in the feminine portrayal of the gay man but it becomes problematic when it becomes the only representation and a representation that is not respected and is constantly subjected to mockery. The other so-called non-stereotype portrayal too is problematic. (...) The same story of the gay man being a home-breaker who cannot be trusted. (...) Queer characters do not necessarily have to be ‘good’ but the narrative remains the same over and over again. Having said that one cannot take away the fact that the biggest contribution of the film [Bombay Talkies] is that you see an actor, who is a macho icon (Randeep Hooda), kiss another man. It shakes up an audience and some of them will accept that ‘this too is normal’. That is precious more so because it is a widely seen film. However, we should be cautious before perceiving that Bombay Talkies getting a wider release is a reflection of overall society becoming more open. The answer will lie when another non-studio film with queer content is made. Will it find the support system? Or will it be turned away by the film certification board with the excuse that two men looking at each other romantically cannot be shown on satellite television as it sends a wrong signal to children? (...) In Dostana (...) the mother at one point is willing to accept the character played by John Abraham as her son’s partner. I think showing acceptance by family is a great signal to give to a community that often lacks the courage to confide in their family'.

Vedi anche L'omosessualità nel cinema hindi

Midnight's Children: recensioni

Mumbai, 31 gennaio 2013

Superato l'iniziale rifiuto, Midnight's Children ha trovato in India un distributore (PVR Pictures) disposto a proiettarlo nelle sale. Il 31 gennaio 2013, data della prima, alla presenza di Deepa Mehta, di Salman Rushdie e del cast, la pellicola è stata finalmente presentata anche al pubblico indiano non festivaliero. Vi segnalo una nuova locandina e alcune recensioni:

- Srijana Mitra Das, The Times of India, 1 febbraio 2013, ** 1/2: 'The film takes a difficult novel and mostly does well. (...) Salman Rushdie's voice guides you as narrator, blending with Nitin Sawhney's musical score.  It's nicely apt for MC to offer so much in its hearing, Rushdie voicing large ironies with tender little loves, Sawhney's score moving you with its exquisite delights. MC also features some striking performances. Roy as Ahmed Sinai presents a passionate portrayal while Bose as General Zulfikar is tightly controlled, whipping at a flock of geese, luxuriating in bubble baths between executing Pakistan's first military coup. (...) There's occasional staginess and cliches too - turbans, snakes, magicians who don't give it a break - and sometimes, the family drama floods broader political time. The film's length (...) could've been tighter. But mostly, MC moves you with its heart and words, especially when Rushdie murmurs, "Without passport or permit, in a basket of invisibility, I returned - to my India." You feel the love'.
- Rashid Irani, Hindustan Times, 11 febbraio 2013, ** 1/2: 'The film is disjointed and uninvolving. Rushdie's first feature screenplay leaves much to be desired, right from his own inexpressive voice-over. None of the characters are infused with passion. Neither are the socio-political upheavals of post-independence India effectively explored. (...) Frequently, the glossy camera work and production design becomes a distraction. The film will get audiences debating literary adaptations. Even if one doesn't compare it to the book, MC is much too tedious for comfort'.

Vedi anche:

- The Who's Who in Deepa Mehta's Midnight Children, Rediff, 27 luglio 2012

- The pulsing world of Nitin Sawhney

- Toronto International Film Festival 2012

- Midnight's Children in Italia

- I figli della mezzanotte in Italia, 17 marzo 2013

- Salman Rushdie talks ‘Midnight’s Children’, other projects, 15 aprile 2013

- Salman Rushdie on bringing Midnight's Children to the big screen, 25 aprile 2013

Le prime del 15 marzo 2013: Jolly LLB

Questo è un film che attendevo da tempo. Jolly LLB, commedia satirica che punta il dito contro il sistema legale indiano, segna il gradito ritorno alla macchina da presa di Subhash Kapoor, regista del delizioso Phas Gaye Re Obama. Nel cast il talentuoso Arshad Warsi, finalmente in un ruolo da protagonista (applauso, per favore), affiancato da un cattivissimo Boman Irani e da Saurabh Shukla. La colonna sonora, composta da Krsna Solo, è uno spasso. Vi segnalo i video dei brani Jhooth Boliya - Boman in mood danzereccio segna sempre uno dei punti più alti della produzione cinematografica indiana, ammettiamolo - e Law Lag Gayi. Ne approfitto per proporvi anche la locandina e il trailer. La leggenda recita che il ruolo principale fosse stato inizialmente offerto ad un certo Shah Rukh Khan...

Aggiornamento del 16 marzo 2013: vi segnalo di seguito alcune recensioni.

- The Times of India, 15 marzo 2013, *** 1/2: 'Rather like its protagonist, Jolly LLB's first half meanders a bit, (...) but boy, does its second half hammer things home. With crackling scenes between Jolly versus Rajpal (Irani deadly smooth, like velvet soaked in blood) and Rajpal versus judge Tripathi (Shukla in a brilliant show), (...) the action becomes electric. Drama builds as Jolly (Warsi, highly endearing and impressive) finds his voice. (...) Jolly LLB works because of its bigger point - decency is for all and worth fighting for. Using bittersweet satire and plot twirls, the film shows corruption even used against the corrupt. Despite that weaker first half, this truly becomes a Jolly good show'.

- Anupama Chopra, Hindustan Times, 16 marzo 2013, ***: 'Jolly LLB is a feel-good satire in the best sense of the term. (...) Writer-director Subhash Kapoor tells his story with conviction, skillfully creating a theatre of the absurd. (...) Parts of Jolly LLB are laugh-out-loud funny, but underneath the humour is an angry critique of the system, so easily manipulated by the rich and so difficult to penetrate for the poor. You go in expecting a comedy, but the story takes some unexpected turns and ends in a rousing climax that is moving and inspiring. My trouble with the film was that Jolly's path is almost too easy. The clumsiest track is his love angle, which forces some unnecessary songs on us. (...) Thankfully, three key actors shoulder the film - Irani, Warsi and the excellent Saurabh Shukla. (...) Despite the uneven writing, Jolly LLB works because it has heart. Make time for it this weekend'.

Makkhi: locandina e recensioni

Eega è senza dubbio il film dell'anno. S.S. Rajamouli ha diretto in simultanea la versione telugu (Eega) e quella tamil (Naan Ee). La produzione ha previsto inoltre le edizioni doppiate in hindi (Makkhi) e in malayalam (Eecha). La versione sottotitolata in inglese, distribuita negli USA nel luglio 2012, nel primo fine settimana di programmazione ha registrato  nelle sale americane una media di spettatori per proiezione superiore a quella conseguita da The Amazing Spider-Man. Il 12 ottobre 2012 è stato distribuito Makkhi, e vi segnalo di seguito alcune entusiastiche recensioni:

- Anupama Chopra, Hindustan Times, 13 ottobre 2012, ****: 'Makkhi is the most outlandish film I've seen in years. It's also the most fun I've had in a theatre recently. (...) It takes courage to pick a story as weird as this. Clearly writer-director S.S. Rajamouli is equipped with guts and a ferocious imagination. (...) By the end, I was clapping and rooting for the fly. How many films can get you emotionally invested in an insect? Makkhi is a mad roller coaster ride that's worth taking'.

- Ankur Pathak, Rediff, 12 ottobre 2012, ****: 'The camera work is beyond belief. The result is a mind-blowing rampage of uniquely filmed scenes. (...) This super-fly is a super-stud, a bee-sized package that promises definite entertainment which even the so called larger-than-life superstars fail to achieve or achieve at a highly superficial level. Director S.S. Rajamouli and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao, who handled the editing and camera work, and the entire team deserve thundering applause'.

- Taran Adarsh, Bollywood Hungama, 9 ottobre 2012, ****: 'Original, inventive, innovative and imaginative, Makkhi raises the bar of films made in India. (...) At a time when most dream merchants in Bollywood are concentrating on mindless entertainers that kiss goodbye to logic, Rajamouli strikes the right balance between logic and entertainment in Makkhi. The scale of the film is colossal, the plot is invigorating and the outcome leaves you mesmerized. (...) A technical wonder, the computer generated fly is, without doubt, the star of the show. And its creator, Rajamouli, a sheer genius for creating a film that sweeps you off your feet and leaves you awe-struck. (...) The writing is smart and clever, the episodes are ingeniously integrated in the screenplay and the culmination to the tale leaves you spellbound. I'd go the extent of saying that Makkhi has an unfaultable start, immaculate middle and impeccable end, which is a rarity as far as Indian films go. (...) On the whole, Makkhi is a landmark film. You ought to watch certain films in your lifetime. Makkhi is one of those films. For choosing a crackling idea, for executing it with panache and for taking Indian cinema to the next level, I doff my hat to you, Mr. S.S. Rajamouli'.
- Box Office India: 'The story, the way it has been written and, above all, the way it has been presented on celluloid takes you totally by surprise. Every scene is a treat to watch, and one good scene is followed by an even better one. (...) Watching Makkhi is a sheer experience! (...) The major highlight of the film is its pace'.

Riporto anche alcune recensioni di Eega:

- Karthik Pasupulate, The Times of India, 6 luglio 2012, ****: 'What's fascinating is that the movie shows a computer-generated-housefly can have pretty much the same effect on the audiences as a rippling superstar. Hair-raising entertainment, jaw dropping, mind-bending thrill-a-second ride of the season, probably the decade, Eega is a game changer. (...) Rajamouli delivered all too well. (...) He's set a new bench mark for Telugu cinema. There are some very original thrills and sequences that will sweep you off your feet. The computer-generated wizardry is seamless. (...) But what is most impressive is the storytelling. Most Telugu filmmakers rely solely on dialogue to take the story forward, but this is perhaps the first film that has the camera taking the narrative forward. In fact, the housefly doesn't have a single dialogue. (...) Visual Effects are just the best ever for a Telugu film, both in terms of originality and quality of output. The film has over 90 minutes of never-before-seen-visual effects that just blow the audiences away'.

- Sangeetha Devi Dundoo, The Hindu, 7 luglio 2012: 'S.S. Rajamouli is completely in control of his team, his narrative and his vision. He proves, yet again, that he is one of the finest storytellers in contemporary Telugu cinema. He is aided by an equally talented team that helps give form to a movie that could have become gimmicky and shallow. Eega raises the bar for visual effects and animation for an Indian film. (...) Eega shows what Indian filmmakers and production houses are capable of, at budgets much lower than that of Hollywood. (...) Sudeep (...) is a perfect match for the animated Eega. (...) Only an actor of calibre could have pulled off a role that called for emoting with an imaginary Eega. Remember that the Eega was added to the frames with the computer graphics after the visuals were shot. Sudeep can keep a few empty shelves ready in his abode to accommodate all the awards he is poised to win the coming year'.

Aggiornamenti del 7 luglio 2022:

- Eega, S.S. Rajamouli's finest film, turns 10, Sagar Tetali, Film Companion, 5 luglio 2022

- As Eega turns 10, a love letter to the spectacular intro S.S. Rajamouli gave its hero, Sankhayan Ghosh, Film Companion, 7 luglio 2022 

International Film Festival of India 2012

La 43esima edizione dell'International Film Festival of India si svolgerà a Goa dal 20 al 30 novembre 2012. Il titolo di apertura è Life of Pi di Ang Lee. Nel cast Irrfan Khan, nel ruolo di Pi adulto e quindi del narratore, Tabu e Adil Hussain. Una curiosità: Ayan Khan, il figlio di Irrfan, in Life of Pi interpreta il fratellino di Pi. La pellicola verrà distribuita nelle sale del nostro Paese il 20 dicembre 2012 col titolo Vita di Pi. Trailer in italiano. Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa da Ang Lee a Karan Johar, pubblicata da Hindustan Times il 4 novembre 2012. Karan Johar interviews Ang Lee:

'Karan: Irrfan and Tabu are established names. Was it interesting to work with them?

Ang: Yes. They have so much respect from me. They are not the ones who said ‘yes’ to everything I said. They always made sure that what they were asked to do was okay. So I told them that it’s India, so you have to let me know. They are established actors. That’s why I don’t have anything to worry about. My main anxiety is that the reading is almost like a fable. I have worked on that story for the film and the script has been romanticised in the end. Since India is not home for me, my main anxiety is how people will receive the movie here. Will they raise their eyebrows or will they adore it? I don’t know'. 

Vedi anche:

- Irrfan Khan: Everything has come to me late in my life

- Irrfan Khan: Khan rises in the West

Irrfan Khan, Tabu e Ang Lee

Emraan Hashmi signs Danis Tanović's next, Anurag Kashyap to co-produce

Da qualche giorno in India circola una notizia entusiasmante: Emraan Hashmi è stato scritturato da Danis Tanović per il suo prossimo lavoro. Vi segnalo l'articolo Emraan Hashmi signs Danis Tanović’s next, Anurag Kashyap to co-produce, di Prashant Singh, pubblicato da Hindustan Times il primo novembre 2012: 'Anurag [Kashyap], who is responsible for picking Emraan, says, “Kalki [Koechlin] told me how sincere and focused he was during Shanghai. (...) When I saw Shanghai, I loved him, after which I pitched a script to him. He said no, but explained why. I saw in him a person who had no delusions about himself. He knew what he wanted to do.” So, when Anurag got the Bosnian writer-director’s script, he approached Emraan again. “When I read the script, I strongly felt Emraan should do it. But the west doesn’t know him. We also didn’t know whether he would agree. But he said yes. Then we pitched him to Danis, who came to India and met him. Now we’re on,” adds Anurag. Vi ricordo che No man's land, diretto da Tanović, nel 2002 strappò a Lagaan l'Oscar per il miglior film straniero.

Aggiornamento del 27 luglio 2022: la pellicola in questione è Tigers, proiettata in prima mondiale al Toronto International Film Festival 2014. Nel cast anche Adil Hussain. Tigers non ha mai beneficiato di una regolare distribuzione nelle sale, sembra a causa dell'argomento trattato: la storia si ispira allo scandalo che coinvolse la Nestlé negli anni settanta del secolo scorso, scandalo riguardante la commercializzazione di latte in polvere nei Paesi economicamente disagiati. Nel 2018 è stato diffuso in streaming. Trailer. In Italia è stato proiettato al Trieste Film Festival 2015. Vi segnalo l'articolo Danis Tanović contro Big Pharma e Nestlé nel suo thriller etico "Tigers", di Paolo Russo, pubblicato da La Repubblica il 6 marzo 2015:

'[Danis Tanović] “Finché a Venezia incontrai Anurag Kashyap (...) e quando gli dissi della sceneggiatura (...) che però nessuno era tanto folle da produrre, lui mi indicò Guneet Monga (...) dicendo ‘se c’è una così pazza da farlo è lei’. E così ce l’abbiamo fatta”. 

Emraan Hashmi, da Bollywood all’impegno

Ne è venuta fuori una produzione anglo-franco-bosniaco-indiana di tutto rispetto. Girata in India, Germania e Inghilterra. (...) Ed ecco (...) la bella perché autentica colonna sonora di Pritam, (...) e la presenza nell’ottimo cast di Emraan Hashmi, giovane idolo di Bollywood al debutto in un ruolo impegnato, che ha saputo virare ottimamente il suo charme di “serial kisser”, così lo chiamano a casa, nelle facce ora grintose ora disperate, speranzose o distrutte di Ayan [il protagonista]. (...) Una storia complessa per un film altrettanto complesso, che nella sua struttura a scatole cinesi ne contiene altre mille. Una tragedia immane che Tanović accosta assai bene, però privilegiandola, alle vicende personali dei tanti personaggi coinvolti a partire da Ayan. (...) Del quale il film rivela la pur temporanea adesione alla militare aggressività di certa cultura aziendale in nome del proprio riscatto economico, il suo terrestre vacillare davanti alla mazzetta Nestlé, facendone così un uomo fallibile, salvato però da una solida, laica pietas, e non l’eroe che ci si poteva aspettare. E come resistere alla dolcezza della sua arcaica, adorabile famiglia che vede sempre uniti, a dispetto della tremenda situazione, il vecchio padre saggio, testardo e di solida, tenera umanità, la madre gioiosa e inesauribile, la giovane moglie, bella quanto coraggiosa e incorruttibile.

Un avvincente thriller etico 

Scritto con sagacia, girato per lo più in piani medi e americani, spesso addosso ai protagonisti, alternando inquadrature di gran pregio (su tutte la sequenza del matrimonio di Ayan) (...) ad altre anonime, brutali, montato con esemplari cambi di ritmo, capace di dare ugual profondità ai cattivi come ai buoni, Tigers è un avvincente thriller etico. Un documentario in noir nel quale investigazione e ricerca del colpevole scandiscono le tappe dell’estenuante catarsi di Ayan, (...) piccolo uomo con poche chance, della condanna senz’appello dei potenti occidentali e dei loro sicari pakistani. Addestrati, come si vede nel film, da un molto americano manager-marine ad aggredire mercato e concorrenti ruggendo come le tigri del titolo. Mostra, il film, con fermezza che basta a se stessa, la palude di corruzione e speculazione che della sciagura di tanti piccoli innocenti continua a fare la fortuna dei già fantascientifici bilanci di Big Pharma. (...) Malgrado i successi di critica, Tigers - vale ripeterlo: un magnifico film anche in senso squisitamente cinematografico - (...) [è] ancora in attesa, da noi per certo, probabilmente pure altrove, di un distributore. Perché il cinema, per esser fatto ma anche fatto vedere, ha bisogno di coraggio'.

Janice Pariat: Boats on Land

Vi segnalo la recensione di Boats on Land, raccolta di racconti di Janice Pariat, recensione firmata da Manjula Narayan e pubblicata da Hindustan Times il 6 ottobre 2012. Il testo raccoglie alcune dichiarazioni rilasciate dalla scrittrice:

'There’s something about Janice Pariat’s short stories that makes you want to linger, to return to particular lyrical descriptions of the north east, to set down the book and contemplate the point where folk lore and reality intersect. “I grew up with a lot of stories that my dad told me; my grandfathers were big story tellers,” Pariat says (...) adding that her community, the Khasis, generally have a vibrant tradition of story telling as they were largely an oral culture before the arrival of the British in the mid-1800s.

“I think our stories serve as the reservoir of our history and of our understanding of the world. (...) Our landscape was marked by folktales - why’s the mountain shaped in a certain way, why the cock crows in the morning... With Boats on Land, I’ve taken these folk stories and interwoven them with the Shillong, Assam and Cherrapunji of today,” she says suggesting that a reality imbued with folklore and even superstition is perhaps imaginatively richer. In her stories this mingling of myth and reality hints at difficult truths: the suicide of a young man in The Discovery of Flight, the fear of the army in Sky Graves. “I wanted to find the marvellous real,” she says.

The most powerful story, Boats on Land brings together sexual yearning, beautiful descriptions of Assam, where Pariat spent much time when she was growing up, and a damaged character so well fleshed out she seems real. “It started as a story about a relationship between a boy and a girl and it felt wrong. I couldn’t find the right narrative voice. Then I read Once In A Lifetime by Jhumpa Lahiri where she used the third person narration and brings in the ‘you’. That evening, I sat down and rewrote the story. It became a story about two girls and it just felt right,” reveals Pariat who seemingly writes effortlessly in the male voice. “Even at school, classmates asked: ‘How are you writing as a boy?’ I really don’t know. I try and imagine what it’s like for a particular person and the thing about being a man or woman comes naturally,” she says. “Gender is such a construct.”

Still, writing the book wasn’t easy. “I always had these stories floating around in my head but they didn’t have a context, a place to reside. I went back home to Shillong to spend time with mum and dad and to write about the place that I’m from,” says Pariat who is glad the north east, which is “forever exoticised”, is emerging as a “place with fresh voices and fresh writers”. “People think it is a timeless, ageless place untouched by many things but I’ve tried to show that pockets were also affected by vast sweeps of history, the world wars, the missionaries, Christianity. These are things we forget Meghalaya and Assam were affected by; we forget it shaped the people living there now,” says Pariat, who, much as she loves Shillong, doesn’t intend to ever live there permanently. “I am attached to Shillong in a way that people who leave home are attached to an idea of home; so it’s a home of eternal return. I think there’s a particular attachment that comes from not being in a place,” she says sounding like one of the quiet revelations that stud her stories.

It isn’t the firebird or the dreams of dead kin that make you linger on Janice Pariat’s short fiction; it’s the truth they help you arrive at, that fresh understanding of an old world'.

Le prime dell'8 agosto 2012: Gangs of Wasseypur II

L'India è in fibrillazione: la seconda parte di Gangs of Wasseypur, il film fenomeno del 2012, viene finalmente distribuita nelle sale. Vi segnalo i video dei brani Chhi Chha Ledar (interpretato dalla dodicenne Durga - un nome, un programma), Electric Piya e Kaala Rey. Il trailer è a dir poco magnifico. Cosa aggiungere? Peccato non essere a Mumbai.

Aggiornamento del 12 agosto 2012 - Vi segnalo di seguito alcune recensioni:

- The Times of India, 10 agosto 2012, ****: 'This time it's double the dollops of gore; two much. Booming guns and metal-shredded innards spilling gut onto the streets. More revenge and rage. More gangs and more bangs (...) and more man-power. With every shade of red, black and grey - deeper and bolder. (...) Anurag Kashyap's culmination to this gang-saga is as bloody as the first (if not more); yet it's an easier watch. The story is astutely interspersed with bursts of music (Bihari folkish tunes with a modern twist), humour (crass and rural), high drama and sudden relief - like a sexual climaxing. Even with a high quotient of brutal violence and moral assassination, Kashyap keeps his sense of humour (mostly black) intact, and entertains. With characters named 'Perpendicular', 'Definite', (...) 'Tangent' - he truly defies all tiresomely tried-and-tested formulas of filmmaking in Bollywood with his 'big bang-bang theory'. Though in spurts, it unleashes scenes that make you crack up, in true Bollywood style humour. (...) Nawazuddin Siddiqui spells doom, is devious and highly-dramatic - yet you take to his character almost instantly. He brilliantly blazes through this role, from being as strong or as shallow as his character demands. (...) With excellent performances, a screenplay that's strung together beautifully (....) a revenge story that touches a dramatic crescendo and music that plays out perfectly in sync with tragic twists of tale - GOW II is an interesting watch, for the brave-hearted. Like the first part, the movie slows down at times (with pointless pistols, hordes of characters and wasted sub-plots); the length needs to be shot down desperately. But otherwise, it's revenge on a platter - served cold (heartedly) and definitely worth a 'second' helping'.

- Taran Adarsh, Bollywood Hungama, 7 agosto 2012, ****: 'Murky, menacing and petrifying and yet witty, GOW II is one intriguing expedition that's several notches above the foremost part. Strengthened by exhilarating acts and stimulating plot dynamics, this is a transfixing motion picture that confiscates your complete concentration. In fact, this cartridge-ridden chronicle is immensely praiseworthy and commendable for a multiple viewing, only to grasp all its fine characteristics to the optimum. (...) On the facade, GOW II is a vengeance story. (...) Scrape that exterior and you'll notice more than that. The writing is unrestrained and imaginative. In fact, in terms of its screenplay, there is not a single scene in the film that leaves you with a sense of deja vu. (...) On the whole, GOW II is an Anurag Kashyap show all through and without an iota of doubt, can easily be listed as one amongst his paramount works. An engaging movie with several bravura moments. Watch it for its absolute cinematic brilliancy!'.

- Raja Sen, Rediff, 8 agosto 2012, *** 1/2: 'Kashyap, in pulling out all the stops, seems content here to let his madcap characters actually enjoy themselves a great deal, making for a far sillier - and decidedly more joyous - cinematic universe. (...) Kashyap's visual flair has just grown with each film, and this one is not just cinematically self-assured but also highly nuanced'.

- Tehelka, ***: 'Like the precocious child too aware of being cute, GOW is ultimately irritating. It’s not the cuteness or the precociousness that is the problem, it’s the awareness. Anurag Kashyap is a canny filmmaker. He knows what audiences will respond to, but he is so pleased with this knowledge that he can’t resist yet another slowmotion sequence, yet another film reference, yet another spray of too vivid blood, yet another character with yet another defining tic. (...) Sneha Khanwalkar’s unquestionably cool soundtrack is so overused, it punctuates the film like a giddy schoolgirl might punctuate a text message or tweet: “OMG!!!!! GoW ROCKS!! 2 gud!!! Nawazuddin is SOOO CUUTTEE!!!!” There are so many exclamation points, you long for the restraint of the full stop, the courtesy of the comma. (...) As with GOW I, GOW II careens from scene to scene like a drunk driver between lanes, the tone at once portentous, bawdy, abrasive, comic, earnest: the film amounts to much less than the sum of its often violent, often tender, often funny, often spectacular parts'.

- Mayank Shekhar, 8 agosto 2012: 'Few actors in recent years have managed to morph into characters the way Nawazuddin (Siddiqui) has. His everyman looks and incredible command over his demeanour helps him achieve a level of transition that makes every other leading man you’ve met at the movies this year seem like monkeys - imitations, either of others, or their own selves. You’re equally stunned by the casting (...) for the rest of the film. Each piece, right down to the toothy thanedar, fits in brilliantly across a saga phenomenally mined by (the) story writer. (...) Over the past few years, the kind of talents Anurag Kashyap has managed to attract and inspire as both producer and director makes him India’s top film school of his own. He’s rightly the fan-boy’s ultimate filmmaker. Director Ram Gopal Varma used to play this role before. This is doubtlessly Kashyap’s best work yet. (...) The director is interested in detail, whether in the step-by-step procedure of murder on the street, or booth-capturing, or sweetly mulling over seductive moments. He’s clearly mastered the pop-corn art of sensational killings and colourful dialogue. The reason you prefer this sequel to the first installment, besides it being more contemporary is, well, this is where the beginning ties up with the end. You get a full sense of the film’s ambitions. You leave the theatre feeling satiated, slightly rejuvenated, but mostly heavy in the head. You realise the picture might have hit you with a rod. Clearly that was the intention'.

- Sarit Ray, Hindustan Times, 10 agosto 2012: 'GOW II is less like a movie sequel, more like the season finale of an ongoing (and admittedly, engaging) TV series. (...) In Kashyap’s pulp-fiction version of the Jharkhand mafia wars, violence is fundamental. It’s graphic, easy and often without deliberation. The gravity of death is replaced by an ironical matter-of-factness: the cries of mourning are drowned out by the cheap noise of a brass band. Cinematic realism pervades, not only in the film, but in the minds of its characters. (...) The movie plays out amid political and financial machinations - illegal scrap metal trading, election rigging - not unheard of in Jharkhand. Yet, it would be a mistake to judge Wasseypur for factual correctness. Kashyap shows familiarity with this world in his attention to detail - the typical Hindi accents, the Ray Ban shades, the pager. But they enhance the flavour rather than the facts. Wasseypur is as much a celebration of small-town India as it is a sinister revenge tragedy. If the subject wasn’t so gory, you’d call it charming'.

Vedi anche Le prime del 22 giugno 2012: Gangs of Wasseypur I

Salman Khan: Why should I remain a bachelor

Set di Ek Tha Tiger, Dublino

Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa da Salman Khan a Afsana Ahmed, pubblicata ieri da Hindustan Times. Why should I remain a bachelor:

'Today, you’re more successful than ever. Are you working twice as hard, or has this happened by chance?

In the past, I had a knee-jerk approach to work and it showed on screen. I was doing movies for the wrong reasons - trying to juggle dates, do too many guest appearances, take up projects under pressure or for emotional reasons. But now there’s a method to my madness. I have heard people say, "Salman has changed, he’s lost it," and stuff like that. But it doesn’t affect me. Today, I am doing movies only for my fans and I am enjoying every bit of it. They are happy and so am I.

Isn’t it showing on screen? There seems to be a Salman Khan mania in the country. Are you proud?

It feels nice to be loved, but let me tell you there are 10 times more better looking, stylish and talented guys than me. So there’s no solid reason for me to be proud! I don’t think I have done anything extraordinary to change people’s lives. (...) This is show business; there is nothing to take credit for. Have I gone to the moon or invented a cure for cancer?. Like most of you, I also have a job. (...)

But people are scared of you, Salman. Why?

That’s just a myth. I think people just give me my space. In fact, those who are supposedly scared of me have taken the maximum liberties with me. Like the media, for instance, who have pitilessly attacked me without finding accurate proof or giving me a chance to clear my stand. For 20 long years I haven’t reacted, because I was wounded. And the same people come to me for interviews. So, where’s the question of fear?

Are you scared of ever losing the fan following you have now?

If the adulation has not affected me now, how will it affect me at all? There are people who take their onscreen image seriously. Luckily, I don’t. Rajesh Khanna is the classic case of a superstar forgotten until he passed away... I have never seen or heard of such unparalleled adulation as his. I was happy to witness a sea of humanity descend on his funeral. But I wish it had all happened when he was alive! He would have been very happy! Love and respect should be accorded in your lifetime. Honestly, I wouldn’t want such pandemonium when I am dead and gone! It’s no use then, because I won’t be able to see or feel the love'. 

Makarand Sathe: The man who tried to remember

Vi segnalo la recensione di The man who tried to remember, di Makarand Sathe, recensione firmata da Suparna Banerjee e pubblicata ieri da Hindustan Times. Il romanzo, originariamente in lingua marathi, sembra davvero intrigante:

'Makarand Sathe’s new novel (...) traces the journey of an ageing public intellectual, Achyut Athavale, from a state of power and stardom through societal imposition of madness on him to a kind of nirvana that allows him to serenely “take each day as it comes” in an upscale mental hospital from which he may never get out. Starting out with the protagonist’s reaction to his new room in the hospital, the novel loops back and forth to reveal the sequence of events leading from his obsession with remembering and communicating, through his unintended murder of a fellow inmate to his acquittal on grounds of a perceived mental breakdown. The pivotal situation in the novel is a Kafkaesque one, of a man frantically trying to prove himself guilty of murder in the face of vociferous public assertions of his unstable mental condition and therefore of his innocence. The acquittal thus dramatises the defeat of the individual before the collective.

Indeed, much of the novel is concerned with showing how ‘reality’ is constructed by collective beliefs and ritualistic praxes - that everything from social institutions to people’s lives to the language through which all experience is ordered and expressed have no ontological purity but is part of the semiotics of social existence. (...) Technically, the novel blends in elements of the modernist stream-of-consciousness with a postmodern absurdist play on language to create a fictional idiom that embodies the author’s social constructionist view of life. Identity becomes a major theme as the protagonist struggles to hold on to his reputation and self-perception as an intelligent, articulate individual even as well-meaning admirers from across the world join forces to prove the opposite in order to save him from being convicted of pre-planned murder. That salvation for someone could mean saving a long-held self-image rather than saving his life is one of the cardinal points made by the novel, as is the implied assertion of the publicly constructed nature of normalcy and sanity. The power of the majority, however, is subverted by the quiet resignation with which Athavale accepts his asylum-life. (...)

The reader’s growing awareness of the madness in what is collectively perceived as reason is balanced by an equivalent perception of the reason in Athavale’s apparent madness. The upshot is that the reader gains an uneasy but morally salutary sense of the fallibility of human constructions, including that of reason itself. The book, despite its philosophical richness, is almost never dull but enlivened with a lively wit that brings out the absurdity - the inconclusive, unending interplay of competing meanings - inherent to language and social praxes. A little more conventional ‘action’ and humour would have further enhanced its readabilty'.

Meenal Baghel: Death in Mumbai

Vi segnalo la recensione del saggio Death in Mumbai di Meenal Baghel, firmata da Gautaman Bhaskaran e pubblicata oggi da Hindustan Times. Il volume analizza un famigerato fatto di cronaca: l'omicidio di Neeraj Grover. Neeraj era un dirigente della casa di produzione televisiva di Ekta Kapoor. Aveva intrecciato una relazione con l'aspirante attrice Maria Susairaj. Il fidanzato di Maria, Emile Jerome Mathew, uccise per gelosia Grover, ed è tuttora in carcere. Ram Gopal Varma ha tratto dalla vicenda il film Not a love story.

'It is never easy to write about an actual murder, a brutal one at that, and Mumbai Mirror’s Editor Meenal Baghel has penned a gripping account of the 2008 Neeraj Grover killing. A young television company executive, Grover may well have been as ruthlessly debonair, callously arrogant and dashingly playboyish as Prem Ahuja was in 1959. When the highly decorated Naval Commander, Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati, found his beautiful wife, British-born Sylvia, having an affair with Ahuja, the enraged husband shot the lover dead. [Aggiornamento del 16 maggio 2022: anche da quel fatto di cronaca è stato tratto un film, Rustom, diretto da Tinu Suresh Desai e interpretato da Akshay Kumar]. Grover’s case appeared to run parallel to the Nanavati story. But unlike the naval officer’s life, Grover’s was one of glamour, part of the celebrity circle that he was. When he met Maria Susairaj, a small-time television actress aspiring to make it big in Bollywood, Grover probably saw several opportunities here. He could have made her a star, and, well, had a passionate sexual affair. Susairaj wanted to fly, but she really did not have the great good looks to hit stardom. Maybe, she saw in Grover, a hope, however faint, to fulfil her dream. But Susairaj was engaged to Emile Jerome Mathew, a dashing naval officer, and this man was jealous, and so horrendously that his fiancée could not even fathom.

Baghel pieces together the events leading up to what can be called a Shakespearean tragedy, and whose dramatis personae were three young people who could not care how they lived their lives or how bloody the road they chose to travel. Here was a woman who played around with the emotions of two men - with one ultimately butchering the other. Here was one man, who threw morals to the winds and slept with one whom he knew was engaged to be married. Here was another man so consumed with jealousy and distrust that he could not hold himself back. Baghel of course had a classic plot to fall back upon that ran like a pulse-pounding thriller, but she goes beyond mere retelling of the murder, mere reportage. And herein lays the book’s value. (...) Baghel bases her work on extensive interviews with the families and friends of Grover, Mathew and Susairaj to take us deep into the psyche of all three. Neeraj was a flirt, a small-town boy with the drive of a big town dreamer. Maria was certainly manipulative, a no-holds-barred climber, while Emile was an upright guy who fell for the wrong woman. (...) 

Baghel also tries to tell us about the pressures of the entertainment industry and how they drive men and women to the precipice. Her chats with Ram Gopal Varma, who made a film on the Grover murder, Not A Love Story, Moon Das, who was offered a role to play Maria’s character in a movie, and Ekta Kapoor, Neeraj’s boss in Balaji telefilms, are insightful. Although Baghel attempts to stop herself from sympathising with any of her characters, it is apparent that she has a soft corner for Mathew. He really was no murderer as Susairaj was a seducer and Grover a womaniser. Yet, Mathew remains in jail, while Susairaj has walked out after serving a three-year sentence. As much as killing can never be condoned, the one who provokes a murder, the one who manipulates emotions must, in the final analysis, bear the cross of guilt'.

Hand-painted posters make a comeback in Bollywood

Vi segnalo l'articolo Hand-painted posters make a comeback in Bollywood, di Divya Arya, pubblicato da Hindustan Times il 17 giugno 2012:

'Indian posters were known for larger-than-life, pertinent, bold portrayals of actors. With a boldly lined cleavage of the heroine to the bulging biceps of the hero - our posters used vibrant colours, heavy strokes, highlights and flashy expressions. (...) Posters have today become a thing of art and are recommended by art curators as vintage and collectibles. Posters have provided the platform for artists like M.F. Hussain  to rise to eminence. The art of posters, as art curators interpret it, is lost to the photographic, HD digital quality stills, which are  easy to design and distribute, but seem lackluster. Creating posters to publicise modern entertainment is a lucrative way to conserve the long lost art. Posters have been the art of the common man. Posters have been the most appropriate style to depict the exaggeration and extravaganza that Indian films are. Posters have had a journey of their own in the Indian cinema with a history sprawled over 80 years. Posters strive to be immortal. Good posters achieve immortality. (...) Movies fill in where life disappoints. Everything related to a movie, be it the actors, the songs, the dancing, the destinations - it all has elements of dream and delirium. It is the bridge between our lives as they exist and lives that might be. A poster, is the best blueprint of what cinema stands for - exaggeration, melodrama and fantasy'.

Jerry Pinto: Em and the Big Hoom (Il grande Uhm)

Vi segnalo la recensione del romanzo Em and the Big Hoom, di Jerry Pinto. La recensione è firmata da Jai Arjun Singh, e pubblicata da Hindustan Times il 18 maggio 2012:

'The easy way to describe Jerry Pinto’s autobiographical novel is to say that it is a son’s account of life with a mentally unstable mother. Imelda Mendes is called ‘Em’ by her two children, the unnamed narrator and his elder sister Susan. Their father Augustine - affectionate, dependable but taciturn - is ‘the Big Hoom’. (...) The narrator describes their lives with a heartbreaking mix of tenderness and humour. That sounds like a very particular story about a very particular person, but Em and the Big Hoom is much more universal in its appeal. Read carefully and you’ll find that it isn’t just about a “special” mother, it is about parents in a more general sense - parents as the looking glasses that we sometimes recoil from because in their aging faces and increasingly erratic behaviour we see our future selves - as well as a reminder that ‘normalcy’ and ‘madness’ are not airtight categories. 

This gentle, kaleidoscopic narrative is, among other things, a son’s assessment of the long courtship between his parents-to-be, and an attempt to understand what two people he takes for granted might have been like in a very distant time, the Mumbai of the 50s and 60s. (...) It is a litany of candid conversations - not all of them occurring beneath a facade of mental illness - and delightful pen-portraits. (...)

But this is also, in a strange but illuminating way, a book about writers and writing. Much of our understanding of Em’s state of mind comes from her journal entries, reproduced throughout the narrative, and letters such as the meandering one in which she acknowledges the seriousness of her relationship with Augustine. We are told that she was a seemingly effortless writer (...) but also that compulsive writing may be a manifestation of her condition. (...)

Given this, it is notable that the narrator himself tries to fight his genes by seeking refuge in the rigours of writing. “One of the defences I had devised against the possibility of madness was that I would explain every feeling I had to myself, track everything down to its source ... I worked it out on a piece of paper...”. He reaches for ways to convey his feelings about his mother but also recognises the impossibility of the task. (...)

This may help one understand why Pinto - a prolific, busy writer-journalist known for juggling projects with ease - took more than two decades to complete this very personal book (which, he has said in interviews, was originally 10 times its current length). And this brings me to my one quibble about Em and the Big Hoom: the fact that it is presented as a work of fiction. While it works as a novel on its own terms (the writing is consistently vivid and moving enough to appeal to a reader who approaches it as a made-up story), I think it works even better if you know who the narrator is, and what his own writing life has been like. I don’t usually spend time dwelling on how ‘autobiographical’ a novel is, but I felt it mattered here: speaking as a reader-writer envious of the quality and range of Pinto’s work, this book seems to reveal much about his own imperatives. Trivial though this might sound - and largely unconnected with the actual quality of the writing - I wish it had ‘memoir’ rather than ‘fiction’ printed on its jacket flap'.

Aggiornamento del 29 aprile 2022: nel 2016 Salani Editore ha pubblicato la traduzione italiana, intitolata Il grande Uhm. Nel sito dell'editore si legge: 'Un racconto appassionato e divertente sull’educazione sentimentale di un ragazzo, ma anche sulla vita di una famiglia divisa tra due poli, Uhm, ‘la mia roccia e il mio rifugio’, e lei, Em, madre dolcissima e molto intelligente, sboccata come un’adolescente, disinibita nella sua follia. Una vita sospesa tra pazzia e normalità, tra la lucidità dell’amore quotidiano e il tentativo di raggiungere Em oltre le nebbie della malattia. Una narrazione vivace e profonda, che riesce a superare ogni difficoltà per guardare avanti, in bilico tra il dramma e la comicità involontaria scatenata dalla vita'.