Sunday, July 25, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
@VladDolezal It was great.Why ...
@VladDolezal It was great.Why don't you publish a site on psychology?I loved your mails on better living
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
CBSE to offer filmmaking cours...
CBSE to offer filmmaking course in Class XI-XII http://bit.ly/cUGRmw
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Hey friends. An article I wrot...
Hey friends. An article I wrote. Please read & give your valuable comments: http://aveek.in/blog/?p=168
Monday, July 19, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
@nsisodiya Foradian used vecto...
@nsisodiya Foradian used vector image but it might not be in open format. We can try one using SVG. Lets get the community in
@nsisodiya Gaurav has used the...
@nsisodiya Gaurav has used the Foradian rupee font on Debian. Does .ttf also work for open office on Windows or Mac?
@nileshgr Thanks brothen? inst...
@nileshgr Thanks brothen? install which other one? & what about the email approval notifications?
my wordpress blog is updating ...
my wordpress blog is updating twitter statuses & post comments approva;l are mailed to me only when i login as wp-admin.any suggestions?
saw a leaflet pasted somewhere...
saw a leaflet pasted somewhere saying "Diamond Pest". Pest control or the biggest pests?!! ROTFLMAO
to log in to delicious-social ...
to log in to delicious-social bookmarking i search Yahoo.Get delicious recipes.& delicious is of yahoo. Google & Bing are much better
to log in to delicious-social ...
to log in to delicious-social bookmarking i serach Yahoo.Get delicious recipes.& delicious is of yahoo. Google & Bing are much better
Saturday, July 17, 2010
@nileshgr it can also be used ...
@nileshgr it can also be used like Kanchi LUG does via way2sms for one command a day
Friday, July 16, 2010
Droid X first run sells out; n...
Droid X first run sells out; next batch goes out July 23rd http://bit.ly/d7Vg4N
i remember i tried to learn Li...
i remember i tried to learn Linux in the 8th standard. No one in my school, including etchers had any exposure.Tried old Red Hat. Goofed up
went to a Oxford bookstore tod...
went to a Oxford bookstore today. they use openoffice. ISRO's been using since long back. why is there such a lot of hue & cry then?
@gauravpaliwal why man? its go…
@gauravpaliwal why man? its good if put to proper use. like they say about science & every other thing. there's bound to me misude ;) LOL
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Raavan ki Raajneeti
Recently I watched the movies Raajneeti & Raavan that have been loosely based on the two great Hindu epics Mahabhrata & Ramayana. They are even being hailed as modern adaptations of the same by many.
However, the callousness of the filmmakers to make populist cinema loosely based on controversial present-day politics to gain cheap publicity is clear. To quote a friend, "A film that begins with romanticizing left politics & ends with the glorification of casteist, dynastic, status quoist, sexist, money and muscle power politics-Pretty much sums up the career of a film maker who in his early days made the socially sensitive "Damul" and finished with "Rajneeti". (Am I being too optimistic when I say "finished"?)" This is being completely disregarded by popular media. The similarities with Sonia Gandhi of the character played by Katrina gave it cheap publicity. All films seem to pitch the same way now-a-days. Take My Name Is Khan for an example.
Raajneeti clearly seems to be aiming for the Oscars. When Ranbir's love interest in the movie says that she's Irish & has seen much violence, somewhere it reminds of "The Departed". This was the only way he could justify how all the main characters of the film died. There was just too mush violence. On the other hand Raavan was more conservative in approach.
Both the movies have been compared to the epics & they clearly bring out the the bias even in our religious epics that always favoured the powerful- referred to as "brave" in the epics. Worse, they might even have been commissioned by the rulers of those times. However, there has hardly been any hue & cry over it. The role of the censor board & political parties is to be applauded. In a sense, we may be heading towards a cultural Hindu renaissance. The realism of the masses is also much greater in India. The Da Vinci Code produced much furore. This slow but sure & silent change was much awaited.
Raajneeti was almost crystal clear & just like Mahabharata, the flaws in the characters were openly shown. However, Raavan on the lines of Ramayana has a lot of finer hidden details. Though the movie lacked proper narration, relying too heavily on cinematography, the hidden details are numerous. Another reason for Raavan's failure might be that there were high expectations after Raajneeti's release & Mani Ratnam is always a hot favourite. At one point, I even feel the lack of violence (colloquially "action") was missing. Even as kids, we preferred watching Mahabharata to Ramayana on Doordarshan.
Both the films have covered leftism- Raajneeti mainstream communism in the idealist Bhaskar Sanyal & Raavan in the Maoist Beera. Beera is shown as a hydra-headed monster but a Robin Hood of sorts for the poor locals. Here, I feel, naxalism has been painted in a very romantic way. Though the freedom of expression of intellectuals should be there, I was shocked to see no protests over Raavan, when we have controversies over petty issues.It was too pro-Maoist. The movie seemed to be a propaganda channel. Sinatra & many other popular people in Hollywood are linked to the Mob. In Bollywood too, links to the underworld is not new. However this is outrageous. After the series of recent Maoist offences, it seems everyone is still deaf to the threat. The admiration of Maoism in mainstream Indian politics is really sad. You cannot do a right thing the wrong way. The path has to be correct. In this regard, I want to quote my friend's father, who belongs to a royal family. He said, " These people are criminals because they kill people. There are oppressed people but they don't resort to violence unless some act of violence is carried out against them; and even then most don't resort to violence." Its as simple as that.
Beera's character draws heavily of two real personalities. Gaddar (Gummadi Vittal Rao) is clearly being supported by Mani Ratnam if not Maoism as a whole. Maoists also don't operate in small groups as shown. May be it suggests splinter groups but the manner of execution of Beera shows similarities with that of Veerappan. He too was killed in an encounter involving comparatively less number of forces. Veerappan too had a Robin Hood like image among the locals.
Further, it is hinted that Beera has split-personality or may be he's just a master manipulator. There are just too many loopholes in the story.This might be too reduce comparisons with Gaddar or Veerappan. The dressing however was strikingly similar to Gaddar. The dhoti(golchi) & gongali (a thick blanket made of rough wool) was striking. Even the locale is very similar to that around Warrangal & Vizag.
Raavan does show the class bar perfectly & this is how it tries to bias people into being Maoist sympathisers. Aishwarya's exposure to art, her teaching dance to kids, etc. point toward the same. She, however, has no knowledge of the real rural India. It is the typical stereotyped life of a bureaucrat's wife. However, her outlook broadened on being kidnapped by Beera (Abhishek), she suffers from Stockholm syndrome, i.e. she begins to emphathise & symthathise with his lot.
Both movies have their share of grey characters. Just like the rosy-tinted Ramayana, Raavan on the same lines has given naxalism a too idealistic picture. Raajneeti was realistic but in a way surrounded by dynastic politics. However, Raajneeti hardly showed any bias & showed things as they are.
Ramayana had blown out of proportions the Aryan-Dravidian conflict. The caste-bar then created is present even today & there's nothing great about it. Mani Ratnam does justice in dismissing the notion of Ram-rajya completely. Mahabharata introduced the theory of karma of clear one's own conscience, get rid of guilt. However, even there religious philosophy has been made dogmatic & twisted the way Mathematical logic can be into fallacies, but the very essence is that its a fallacy- an illusion- a lie- incorrect. Improper usage of the theory of karma can be disasterous. Raajneeti doesn't favour it but at the same time dawns upon realism- " Raajneeti me yehi dekhi jaati hai ki jeet kiski hoti hai". This keeps us rooted to reality, though it may be ugly.
However, the callousness of the filmmakers to make populist cinema loosely based on controversial present-day politics to gain cheap publicity is clear. To quote a friend, "A film that begins with romanticizing left politics & ends with the glorification of casteist, dynastic, status quoist, sexist, money and muscle power politics-Pretty much sums up the career of a film maker who in his early days made the socially sensitive "Damul" and finished with "Rajneeti". (Am I being too optimistic when I say "finished"?)" This is being completely disregarded by popular media. The similarities with Sonia Gandhi of the character played by Katrina gave it cheap publicity. All films seem to pitch the same way now-a-days. Take My Name Is Khan for an example.
Raajneeti clearly seems to be aiming for the Oscars. When Ranbir's love interest in the movie says that she's Irish & has seen much violence, somewhere it reminds of "The Departed". This was the only way he could justify how all the main characters of the film died. There was just too mush violence. On the other hand Raavan was more conservative in approach.
Both the movies have been compared to the epics & they clearly bring out the the bias even in our religious epics that always favoured the powerful- referred to as "brave" in the epics. Worse, they might even have been commissioned by the rulers of those times. However, there has hardly been any hue & cry over it. The role of the censor board & political parties is to be applauded. In a sense, we may be heading towards a cultural Hindu renaissance. The realism of the masses is also much greater in India. The Da Vinci Code produced much furore. This slow but sure & silent change was much awaited.
Raajneeti was almost crystal clear & just like Mahabharata, the flaws in the characters were openly shown. However, Raavan on the lines of Ramayana has a lot of finer hidden details. Though the movie lacked proper narration, relying too heavily on cinematography, the hidden details are numerous. Another reason for Raavan's failure might be that there were high expectations after Raajneeti's release & Mani Ratnam is always a hot favourite. At one point, I even feel the lack of violence (colloquially "action") was missing. Even as kids, we preferred watching Mahabharata to Ramayana on Doordarshan.
Both the films have covered leftism- Raajneeti mainstream communism in the idealist Bhaskar Sanyal & Raavan in the Maoist Beera. Beera is shown as a hydra-headed monster but a Robin Hood of sorts for the poor locals. Here, I feel, naxalism has been painted in a very romantic way. Though the freedom of expression of intellectuals should be there, I was shocked to see no protests over Raavan, when we have controversies over petty issues.It was too pro-Maoist. The movie seemed to be a propaganda channel. Sinatra & many other popular people in Hollywood are linked to the Mob. In Bollywood too, links to the underworld is not new. However this is outrageous. After the series of recent Maoist offences, it seems everyone is still deaf to the threat. The admiration of Maoism in mainstream Indian politics is really sad. You cannot do a right thing the wrong way. The path has to be correct. In this regard, I want to quote my friend's father, who belongs to a royal family. He said, " These people are criminals because they kill people. There are oppressed people but they don't resort to violence unless some act of violence is carried out against them; and even then most don't resort to violence." Its as simple as that.
Beera's character draws heavily of two real personalities. Gaddar (Gummadi Vittal Rao) is clearly being supported by Mani Ratnam if not Maoism as a whole. Maoists also don't operate in small groups as shown. May be it suggests splinter groups but the manner of execution of Beera shows similarities with that of Veerappan. He too was killed in an encounter involving comparatively less number of forces. Veerappan too had a Robin Hood like image among the locals.
Further, it is hinted that Beera has split-personality or may be he's just a master manipulator. There are just too many loopholes in the story.This might be too reduce comparisons with Gaddar or Veerappan. The dressing however was strikingly similar to Gaddar. The dhoti(golchi) & gongali (a thick blanket made of rough wool) was striking. Even the locale is very similar to that around Warrangal & Vizag.
Raavan does show the class bar perfectly & this is how it tries to bias people into being Maoist sympathisers. Aishwarya's exposure to art, her teaching dance to kids, etc. point toward the same. She, however, has no knowledge of the real rural India. It is the typical stereotyped life of a bureaucrat's wife. However, her outlook broadened on being kidnapped by Beera (Abhishek), she suffers from Stockholm syndrome, i.e. she begins to emphathise & symthathise with his lot.
Both movies have their share of grey characters. Just like the rosy-tinted Ramayana, Raavan on the same lines has given naxalism a too idealistic picture. Raajneeti was realistic but in a way surrounded by dynastic politics. However, Raajneeti hardly showed any bias & showed things as they are.
Ramayana had blown out of proportions the Aryan-Dravidian conflict. The caste-bar then created is present even today & there's nothing great about it. Mani Ratnam does justice in dismissing the notion of Ram-rajya completely. Mahabharata introduced the theory of karma of clear one's own conscience, get rid of guilt. However, even there religious philosophy has been made dogmatic & twisted the way Mathematical logic can be into fallacies, but the very essence is that its a fallacy- an illusion- a lie- incorrect. Improper usage of the theory of karma can be disasterous. Raajneeti doesn't favour it but at the same time dawns upon realism- " Raajneeti me yehi dekhi jaati hai ki jeet kiski hoti hai". This keeps us rooted to reality, though it may be ugly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)