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Reviews
Ashad Ka Ek Din (1971)
So very poetic.
A great film. Beautiful screenplay. A sample:
Arya Vilom (a jealous acquaintance, who himself is trying to be a poet, and a self proclaimed 'friend' of Kalidasa) in the presence of Mallika (Kalidasa's lover) to Kalidasa who is about to leave his village to become the royal poet: "You can definitely be proud of your knowledge today. Heard you have received an invitation from the capital"
Kalidas: "Yes. Are you sad to hear that?"
Vilom: "Sad? Of course. Sad that I am being separated from a good friend...it is good that both of us understand each other so well...What's Vilom? An unsuccessful Kalidasa. And Kalidasa? A successful Vilom. We are very close in that sense"
Kalidasa: "Undoubtedly"
Several years passed. Kalidasa couldn't enjoy the palace life. He renounced everything and returned to his village, only to see that Mallika has given birth to Vilom's child!
A drunk Vilom: "Do you think your rights are permanent? As if there is no life beyond you. It's only you and no one else. But time isn't heartless. It has given power to others as well. It has given rights..."
Later, Kalidasa in a sad tone (to Mallika who hinted at a fresh start after the drunk Vilom left the scene): "Possibly it was the conflict of desires with time. But I can see that time is more powerful. Because..."
Mallika: "Because?"
Kalidasa: : "Because it doesn't wait"
With Lishin Anoop.
Guns and Guitars: A Musical Travelogue... (2016)
Guns kill. Guitars heal.
A documentary film based on the concept of "Guns kill. Guitars heal."
From the film:
"We have seen that politics divides people.
Progress also divides people. Someone is at the top. Someone at the bottom.
However, culture...various festivals...celebrations of any kind unites people. Culture unites."
Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (2015)
The untiring spirit of the Ukranians
A very powerful documentary about the Maidan protests (and the violent retaliation by the government) that culminated in ex-Ukranian president Yanukovych fleeing the country.
Some excerpts from the script:
"My little daughter came to me and asked me not to go. She said, Papa I will grow up and bring them down myself. I told her if we don't take them down now, no one will ever be able to do that."
About a particularly tense night when violence was in the air: "It was a dramatic and difficult night. People didn't talk. They were just looking into each other's eyes. Into each others souls."
An observer: "I had never seen such courage. I was watching, and was wondering when they will run. But they didn't. They were fighting to their death."
On the brutality of the Ukranian police: "What kind of mother raised a man to purposely target a man who just tried to help his wounded friend?"
The main drawback of the documentary is that it is completely one-sided. It doesn't show us Yanukovych's point of view. The objective of the protesters was to make Ukraine a part of the EU rather than lean towards Putin's Russia. The documentary totally ignores the fact that some of the provinces far from the capital were in favour of aligning with Russia. Alleged foreign funding of the protests is also not mentioned. Despite these drawbacks this is a must watch documentary that reveals the power of mass protests and the amazing courage of ordinary Ukranian citizens in the face of state repression. It's noteworthy that the opposition parties were not allowed to hijack the movement. The protesters cut across political affiliations, religions and professions.
An excerpt relevant today: "I can't accept that after all the war we have had in this world, we are still solving problems by killing each other."