The modern life is full of deadlines, challenges and stress. We are always
busy and there is always so much to do! Health is the first casualty of such an
‘always on’ lifestyle! Family, relationships and hobbies are next in line, all
of which has an impact on mental health.
Lack of sleep and anxiety are a common part of corporate life today.
Depression, suicidal tendencies, cancer
and heart-related issues are the more serious health challenges men face today.
Has life to be this way? Let’s take a pause.
Pahel Team has brought the Movember challenge to Infostretch. Movember is a
leading charity that is focussed on changing the face of men’s health. The idea
is to start talking about Men’s health issues and create an overall awareness.
When the supremely talented and amazing Geetanjali Sahni challenged me for
the Movember challenge, I readily accepted it. The Rockstar believes that men’s
health is not just a subject for man alone. It affects the whole society
including family, friends and workplace. And men need health classes, nutrition
and counselling – just as much as women! Very True!
And I equally pleased that Aparajito and Heeren Panchal join Team
Geetanjali – she is as much a tough taskmaster as she is an electrifying
cheerleader. Aparajito has been my partner in crime in converting ideas into
beautiful designs. Our creative jugalabandi will help us in Movember as we all
create more awareness of Men’s health issues.
It’s Mo Time – Let it Grow!
Let’s change the face of men’s health!
Investing in our health is the best gift to ourselves, our loved ones and
the world around us! Dead men cannot create sustainable success or spread
happiness!
Bollywood Celebrates Mahatma Gandhi!
The leading Bollywood director Rajkumar Hirani showcases the best Gandhian ideals in a new video. The special video is released for the birth centenary celebrations of Shri Mahatma Gandhi
The Rajkumar Hirani tribute features the following leading actors:
Aamir Khan
Shahrukh Khan
Salman Khan
Ranbir Kapoor
Sonam Kapoor
Vicky Kaushal
Alia Bhatt
Kangana Ranaut
The video was released by Honorable PM Shri Narendra Modi in New Delhi
Joker movie is a cinematic experience par excellence.
Director Tod Phillips has reimagined the classic character and presented a
very gripping tale.
Joaquin Phoenix is Arthur Fleck – the clown on hire and a struggling
stand-up comedian. He lives with his mother in a rat-hole apartment in Gotham
city. He adores the celebrity TV comedian and talk show host Murray Franklin.
He wants to be famous like him. He has a silent crush on his neighbour. He has
mental health challenges and he finds an unlikely connection with one of the
most powerful man in the city. The story unfolds and slowly showcases his rise
as Joker.
The beauty of the movie is in details….Cinema at its best!
The moment of Arthur trying to be friendly with a boy in the bus. The scare
of the dwarf clown trying to open the door. The pain of unconquered love when
he visits his desired love. The sadness of funding cuts. The despair of being
fired. The anger and cries of unravelling a difficult past.
Joker’s dance on the steps – Oh my God! What a capture!
Director has captured the loneliness and despair in beautifully captured
shots. The lonely steps. The lonely train on a dark night. The flickering
lights. The dull apartments. The empty lives. The dark people. Everything he
shows has a meaning. Everything he has shown has a context. Even the ‘Charlie
Chaplin’ movie in the theatre.
The world is falling apart. The garbage collectors are on strike and
streets are stinking. The funding for social services is down because “they” do
not care about such things. The divide between rich and have-nots is widening. The powerful Thomas
refers to the have-nots as Clowns. Arthur beautifully asks: Is it me who is
crazy or the whole world is getting crazy?
Eventually the clown’s actions start resonating with many in the world!
Ambition. Love. Illusion of Love. Failure. Loneliness. Grief. Struggle.
Celebrity Cult. Power. Pain. Everything is captured and shown subtly.
Joaquin Phoenix gives a masterclass in acting! The way he has sunk into the
character and portrayed all the emotions – too good! He rules the screen. He
owns the movie.
Director Tod Phillips has challenged the citadel of great directors with
this movie. Oscars all the way!
Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most significant and enduring gifts of India to
the world. And so is Bollywood. How is the relationship between India’s biggest
exports?
Mahatma Gandhi saw only two movies in his
lifetime. The first was a Hollywood movie called ‘Mission To Moscow’. And the
second one was the 1944 Indian movie ‘Ram Rajya’, which was directed by Vijay
Bhatt. Thus, he saw only one Indian movie.
Let us look at representation of Mahatma Gandhi
in movies.
Sir Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi – The Gandhi Movie of All Time
Let me first take Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi out of the way. This is
‘The Gandhi Movie of All Time’ – the one movie that everyone should watch!
It is an amazing epic of all time, a movie par excellence and a life story
beyond imagination! Everyone was at their best in the movie –actors, director, producer,
cinematographer, music director, costume designer. Nobody could have done
anything less good for this project – It was a divine duty or a ‘Sistine
chapel’ of their lives!!
The Gandhi movie swept all the major awards including Oscars, Golden Globe
& BAFTA. It won the 8 Oscars including the Best Film and Best Actor. The
movie had a very successful box office run across the world. In India, it had
an ordinary response.
Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi is a moving experience. It transforms you. It keeps you engaged. It is one of the best tributes to Gandhi and his ideals. Ben Kingsley gave a performance of his lifetime. Ben Kingsley has Indian-Gujarati roots and his original name is Krishna Pandit Bhanji. Hence it was apt to see an Indian origin Ben play the legendary role. Rohini Hattangady, Amrish Puri, Om Puri and Saeed Jaffrey enact key roles in the movie.
The trivia of movie Gandhi are endless. One of the most interesting is that
three lakh extras participated in Gandhi’s funeral procession scene in the
movie. Only a few claimed the remuneration – everyone did it as their duty and
tribute to Gandhi.
Growing as a young kid in late 80s, Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi was a
constant fixture of your Doordarshan life. Every important day including October
2, 2019 would be the day to view Gandhi. And what gem we had been offered
regularly – Maybe like other Doordarshan offerings like Tamas, Buniyaad, Yeh Jo
Hai Zindagi, National Programme of Music, we ignored the priceless gift!
Gandhi & Bollywood
Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi remains one of most significant movies of our
times. But Richard’s Gandhi is not a Bollywood movie. It is a British movie.
Let us turn our eyes to Bollywood.
One of the first though indirect portrayal of Gandhi on screen was in the
Dwarkadas Sampat’s 1920 movie ‘Mahatma Vidur’. The character Vidur was dressed
and walked like Gandhiji.
The first significant Indian attempt on Gandhiji was by Shyam Benegal. The 1996 movie ‘The Making Of The Mahatma’ focussed on the 21 years of Gandhi’s life in South Africa and his transformation. It is true that Gandhi discovered himself, his philosophy and political tools in South Africa. The movie is based on his South African experiences including the iconic incident of being thrown out of the train at Pietermaritzburg station. As Gopal Gandhi said later that the man who stood up from the fall was a revolutionary! Actor Rajit Kapoor did a splendid job and the movie is a great piece of work. The movie failed at the box-office though it won few awards.
Kamal Hasan made a movie named ‘Hey Ram’ in 2000 and depicted the struggle
of a man trying to kill Mahatma Gandhi. Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukherji joined
Kamal Hasan but they could not save the movie from tanking at the box office.
Anupam Kher and Urmila Matondkar had used Gandhi’s killing as a backdrop Jahnu
Barua directed 2005 movie ‘Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara’. Anil Kapoor produced
‘Gandhi My Father’ in 2007. The movie was based on Feroz Khan’s play and was
adapted for the big screen. The movie focussed on the troubled relationship
between Gandhiji and his son Hiralal Gandhi. Many people amplified Harilal’s
negative views on Gandhi – How ‘Father Of The Nation’ could not be a great
father to his own son! But it backfired. The movie also bombed at the box
office.
Movies on Gandhi were not getting enough Gandhis! (currency notes)
It had to take Rajkumar Hirani’s Midas touch to turn the tide. Leveraging
his unique story telling skills and humour, he offered a completely new
perspective on Gandhi. ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ did what thousands of historians,
hundreds of books and several organisations could not do – bring Gandhi back in
fashion. The simple story of a loveable Mumbai don using Gandhi’s principles to
solve challenges and win his lady love. Munnabhai’s Gandhigiri was observed
throughout the nation in ensuing months and years. It was Hiran’s excellent
vision, script and direction that delivered a genuine blockbuster at the movie.
‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ was the biggest hits of 2006. Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra
smiled all the way to the bank. More importantly, it made Gandhi cool and
offered a great new alternative narrative and a perspective on Gandhi to the
youth. He brought Gandhi out of the statues and photo frames and books into the
lives of youth. A great achievement! The power of good cinema!
Amit Rai made a movie ‘Road To Sangam’ in 2009 starring Paresh Rawal and Om
Puri. The movie focussed on immersion of the ashes of Gandhiji against a
communal backdrop. Gandhi’s great grand-son Tushar Gandhi played a Cameo in the
movie and it won several awards. But it was a box office disaster. Rakesh
Ranjan Kumar’s 2011 ’Gandhi To Hitler’
is based on Gandhi’s letters to Hitler.
Apart from the above, Gandhi has been represented in biopics of other
leaders like Shri Babasaheb Ambedkar, Iron Man Sardar Patel, Shaheed Bhagat
Singh etc. Hollywood had made another movie called ‘Nine Hours To Rama’ in 1962
where Gandhi’s assassination was re-imagined and Godse was presented as hero.
The Mark Robson directed film never released in India and tanked globally. It
had no Indian actors.
Gandhi’s Under-Representation In Indian Cinema
Mahatma is under-represented in Indian film industry. The best work on
Gandhi is by a non-Indian – Maybe an outsider had more courage and better
perspective to make a film on Gandhi. The greatest film makers of our time in
1940s to 1980s never thought of making a movie on Gandhi. They must have
thought – Gandhi is so much within us that we never need a movie for him.
Gandhi is a family member of every Indian. What is there to tell about Gandhi
that people do not know? The movie may not make money!
Dada Saheb Phalke, Bimal Roy, V Shantaram, Himanshu Rai, Chandulal Shah, Mehboob Khan, Raj Kapoor, Chetan Anand, Satyajit Ray, Hrishikesh Mukherjee – None of them made a movie on Gandhi. The movies till 1950s and 1960s had a lot of influence of Gandhian values but there was no Gandhi movie. The erosion of patriotic feeling, the rise of corruption, the arrival of angry young man, the liberalisation of economy, the excitement of millennium – different phases of a growing India. And all this while Gandhi remained in background in the cinematic world.
There were occasional trace of Gandhi. In Bimal Roy’s Nutan starrer Sujata,
the main protagonist avoids suicide after becoming aware of Gandhi’s views on
suicide and changes her life. Salim Khan Saheb had once commented that the
pivoted character of movie ‘Imaan Dharam’ was inspired by Gandhiji. The
protagonist of his movie ‘Kabza’ was also Gandhi. Ashutosh Gowariker’s movie
Swades was influenced by Gandhian principles – Shah Rukh Khan is called Mohan
in the movie. The interesting thing to note is that the movies on Gandhi and
his philosophy are limited and lacking depth.
Charlie Chaplin and Gandhi
Interestingly, Charlie Chaplin was inspired by Gandhi and one can notice the influence in his film ‘Modern Times’. Charlie Chaplin had met Mahatma Gandhi in at a nondescript building at London’s East India Dock Road in 1931. The two had discussions on lot of topic including machinery, socio-economic conditions, philosophy of principles driving Indian Independence struggle etc. Charlie Chaplin’s memoir describe how he was transfixed to see Gandhi offer the evening prayers – a super intelligent being immersed in spiritual devotion! (An interesting point to note is the biopics of both Gandhi and Charlie Chaplin were made by one person – Sir Richard Attenborough.)
How would modern directors interpret Gandhi? We have had Love Stories and
Lust Stories. How about ‘Gandhi Stories’ by Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap,
Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Karan Johar? Or if Hollywood presented Gandhi through
the eyes of Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan or James Cameron? Just imagine!
