Judging the judgments

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Jumping into conclusions is one of the most favourite and most pursued habit of a lot of people. See, here when I make a statement full of judgement, I have already assumed something without even knowing the aforementioned ‘a lot of people’. That’s how easy judging others is.

When I recently got a chance to watch Khidkee, (thanks to Baithak at Kala Studio) a short film by Rohan Kanawade, it raised questions about so many things, but the most important being – judgements.

Khidkee is about two people staying across each other in different buildings. The common factor between then is the Khidkee (Window in Marathi) and what they see through it. Madhu – (Veena Nair), a middle-aged housewife stays at home to take care of her paralytic husband (Abhay Kulkarni). Their son is in the U.K. for higher studies. And across her flat, in the other building is Ashwin (Lalit Prabhakar), a filmkmaker working on his new script.

When Madhu is not taking care of her ailing husband, she looks through the window towards Ashwin’s apartment and can see how mostly how all the visitors are males, on the other hand, Ashwin looks through his window as sees multiple men visiting her and she offering them cash as they leave. Just these two things are enough for both of them to let their assumptions run wild.

In the times of prejudiced attitude towards everybody different from the mainstream, using deep and subtle visuals, the director has conveyed an impactful message and gets you thinking about how often and how easily we judge people knowingly or unknowingly. Madhu keeps talking to her husband in a leery tone about male visitors at Ashwin’s while Ashwin’s friend makes personal remarks on Madhu’s appearance.

We can connect immediately to both of the characters because if we were at their place, probably we would have been thinking in the same way. So, when we talk about judgement, it is always both ways. The one who’s being judged is also judging other people for some reason.

One of the best part about Khidkee is an excellent use of frames through out the movie. And I think those frames say a lot. Every scene has a frame and those perfectly represent our outlook towards people and life. Our upbringing, our social conditioning, our education forms the frames of our minds and those typical frames decide the way we look at the things that we come across.

The film ends at a perfect moment and provokes us to think and pushes our imagination. The movie is not over-the-top preachy, but it definitely makes you pause for a moment and introspect – about people, their lives, and our judgments.

A butterfly that creates a storm in your guts

Some movies hold you by your collar, slap you hard, and hold a mirror in front of you, from which you try to hide your face – La Lengua De Las Mariposas is one of such movies. But before it does all of this, this movie transports you to the beautiful town of Galicia, Spain of 1930s, a shy young boy Moncho who’s hesitant to go to the school because of his fears, and his life amidst the political tension in Spain.

Sometimes, while walking aimlessly at the shore, you find some beautiful shells – same was the case with this movie. I came across this piece of art by José Luis Cuerda while randomly surfing YouTube. I stopped at picture that reminded me of Fandry, an equally amazing 2013 Marathi movie.

Image credits – documentamadrid.com

The movie starts with an asthmatic 9 year old Moncho (Manuel Lonzo) anxious about going to the school and the strict teachers; he discusses the same with his elder brother. Next day, his mother takes him to the school and leaves him with an elderly teacher – Don Gregorio. Moncho pees in the class because of fear and runs away to the jungle out of embarrassment, only to be found by his brother and the search party late night. The next day, his teacher comes home to take Moncho to school. Soon, the impression of Don Gregorio as a strict teacher wanes from the mind of Moncho and what follows is a beautiful coming of age story, where I think, Moncho represents the caterpillar. Oh by the way, Mariposa means butterfly in Spanish. The process of the blooming and learning is picturised so beautifully, that not a single scene or a character seems unnecessary. Eventhough the story is about Moncho, there are lot of undertones, there are lot of parallel stories happening in the movie – it talks about the era of Spanish Civil War, conditions at Moncho’s home where his father follows a liberal, republican mindset whereas his mother is a staunch catholic who insists that the family should go to the Church regularly.

In my opinion, what makes this coming of age story special is the way the outside world and the inner thoughts of the character are so well-coordinated. I mean,  the political & social circumstances and the inner battles of the characters are so beautifully depicted that it forms a wholesome, introspective story that grips your mind and asks a lot of questions that might make you speechless.

There are movies in which you can empathize with some characters and totally detest the others, these are the movies where the writer / director themselves set a distinct black and white border and make you watch the movie through their mindset.

You can personally connect with each and every character in this movie- their feelings, their confusions, their opinions, and their way of reacting to things. So when the mother burns the Republican magazines in the stove, you can actually relate to her, rather, you want her to hurry up and save the family.

While watching the life of Don Gregorio, somewhere I was reminded of Pinjara – another classic Marathi movie revolving around the life of a school teacher. The much loved and admired school teacher, his passion to teach his pupils how to think instead of just pushing the syllabus down their throats, his love for the nature of idea of taking classes outdoors – Don Gregorio is an example of what the kids of that age really need. He shows them the river, the ant hill, the flowers, and catches butterflies with Moncho.

The teacher who believes in learning more than education. Image – 3.bp.blogspot

What wrenches your heart is the end, when the family has to choose a  side between the Republicans and the Nationalists and because of the mother, and their safety, whole family sides with the nationalists and joins the protesters who are present at the court where the Republicans are paraded and publicly shamed and put in the truck –

The expressions of Don Gregorio are splendidly presented by Fernando Fernán Gómez. So much so, that they pierce right into your subconscious and make you uncomfortable.  – Those expressions remind you of the many times you’ve been neutral, the times when you had taken a strong stance, or the times when you had stood up for what you really wanted instead of giving in to the pressure of society, peers, and family.

Moncho’s father bursts into tear while shouting atheo! (Atheist) at Don Gregorio! The climax brutally demonstrates the obligations of taking a side instead of being a fence-sitter, no matter how hard it is. Moncho joins the stone-pelting kids who run behind the truck carrying the captured republicans, but at after a few moments, he halts, and says that he didn’t mean the abuses he hurled at Don Gregorio. The actor has beautifully showcased the helplessness of Moncho that unknowingly makes you cry!

​ Dream a little dream

I have my coping mechanisms for a shitty day at work – listening to my favourite music, talking to my favourite people, eating some nice food, drinking a glass of wine, watching porn are some of those. Watching movies is rarely an agenda. Okay I’ll admit I’m not really a movie person. That gets enough of weird looks during conversations.

But yeah, since the release, I wanted to watch La La Land but couldn’t find a seat. After a month of its release, it was out of the theatres near my place. Only a few shows in downtown. But finally I decided to watch it online skipping my regular techniques to get over a long, boring day.

I’d loved the posters of La La Land, and I’m generally the one to judge the book by its covers. For instance, I would go for any Kangana Ranaut movie (I watched Rangoon and I must admit, it’s pathetic.) I thought La La Land will disappoint too, when it opened with a scene of people stuck in traffic jam start singing and dancing.

Oh no, another bollywood style musical! Not that I don’t like them, but for that we have our desis, don’t we?

But in just a few minutes in the movie and I could connect to Mia, an aspiring actress, and Sebastian, a Jazz purist struggling to bring back the glory days to Jazz music. His dream is to set up his own Jazz club, a place for pure Jazz and nothing else. He’s pissed that his favourite Jazz club has now turned into a Samba and Tapas place.
On the other hand, Mia, a barista is going through a series of failed auditions. Seb and Mia keep running into each other, they meet, they talk and they fall in love. However, after a while, Mia thinks that Seb is giving up on his principles of playing pure music by being a part of his friend’s band, they have a fight, she leaves and goes to her parents’ house. Meanwhile she (thinks) she fails with her ‘One woman play’ project, however, a casting director who attends her play calls her for an audition, she succeeds in her acting career and so does Seb, with his dream of setting up a Jazz club. Cut to – 5 years later where Mia, a successful actress now, is married to another man and she runs into Seb again, at his Jazz club; with a logo designed by Mia.

Okay, to be honest, I didn’t find anything extra-ordinary in the story. Screenplay, direction, music, and the cinematography is splendid.
But above all this, there’s this strong connection I could feel with the movie. About the dreams, working hard towards making those a reality, or maybe being competent but still having to stick to the ‘setlist’, or maybe just dreaming a new dream because it all seems so tough afterall.
While being practical and living our life calculating the risks and opportunities, it is very important to fantasise, to dream. To dream a dream that scares us. To wander in a fantasy land. To be away from the real, hard- hitting life for a while so that the dreamland shows us hopes, colourful vista of our life. This is the same reason I like to interact with artistes. Conversation with most of them take us to another world, a dreamland which they own. Some take us us there through their painting, some through their music, and some through their writing.

A lot of people who watched La La Land were at cross with the movie’s ending, but I thought that’s most beautiful part of it. Instead of going the conventional way, it portrayed both the endings and left it to us to ponder upon.

The end that makes us questions the cost of our dreams, the significance of loved ones in our journey, and the alternate endings.
Once in a while it is inevitable to take a tour of future, a distant dreamland that encourages us to live and not just exist. Because, as Mia’s aunt in the film says –

A bit of madness is key
To give us new colors to see
Who knows where it will lead us?
And that’s why they need us”

So bring on the rebels
The ripples from pebbles
The painters, and poets, and plays

And here’s to the fools who dream
Crazy as they may seem
Here’s to the hearts that break
Here’s to the mess we make