50 years of BONDing

Never in the history of modern cinema have a man who is 50 years and 23 films old have appealed to people across generation like James Bond. Sitting and watching the latest James Bond movie ‘Skyfall’ along with an octogenarian couple reminded me of the charisma of the man who had defined ‘adventure with class & style’ genre of movies. I am pretty sure the couple sitting behind me must have watched Sir Sean Connery bringing out Ian Flemings character from books to silver screen with the funding of Albert R. Broccoli. They must have witnessed Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan & Daniel Craig pass on the mantle of 007 serving Her Majesty’s secret service as a part of MI6. It’s indeed a long journey of a successful franchise. Barring Harry Potter no other franchise has survived this long.

My early memories of James Bond rovers around Pierce Brosnan. We grew up seeing him revitalize this franchise after not so memorable Timothy Dalton who has succeeded in withering away the fan following of 007.

James Bond has always personified a character with conflicting attitudes and yet he remained as the ultimate personification of male ego. Right from his shoes, glasses, watch and even his car had become a statement of style across generations. His womanizing skills have been tried and tested by generations. I will not go into the success rate of this method but I am sure that the fairer sex has borne the brunt of it. Every guy at some point of his life ordered ‘Vodka with Martini, shaken not stirred’ to the bartender. Such was the charisma of this secret service agent that people copied his way of introduction – ‘My name is Bond, James bond’. It’s another matter that it did not work out too well in some parts of India where the middle name tends to overshadow the first and last name by its sheer length.

Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig have been the two Bond actors whom I have seen in the short span of my life so far. Undoubtedly Pierce Brosnan was better but in an uncanny way Daniel Craig portrayed a more Humane Bond. A Bond that feels pain bleeds when hurt, gets over powered physically. I think both these talented actors have done justice to the character of 007

After seeing ‘Skyfall’ the only question that I had in my mind was “What Next?” . We have seen Department Q Change, Money Penny Change, M Change, So is it time for Daniel Craig to go? It would be rather interesting to see how this franchise reboots itself? The succession of Daniel Craig from Pierce Brosnan wouldn’t have been easy if the directors did not decide to change the character of James Bond.

"Skyfall” marks the 50^th year of for the man who lived life on edge. I am sure all the fans want to see more of Bond in the coming years. This is one man who gives me a chance to talk to my dad regarding movies, lifestyle and adventure and compare the same across both generations

I can’t but leave this chance to punch in a few lines on the review of “Skyfall”. Overall it’s a better movie than ‘Quantum of Solace’ but I guess ‘Casino Royale’ was just a few notches above it. The director(Sam Mendes) tries to give the villain more of ‘Joker’ like  characteristic but that just adds to the melodrama and since his cause for revenge is not well elaborated so the audiences does not feel connected to his pathos. The central storyline lacks the thrill which is a characteristic of Bond movies. This Bond movie plays with finer human emotions running across each character. Their vulnerability and inner conflicts forms the driving force with keeps the audience rolling. Yes the set piece actions are good but I guess that’s what we expect from 007.

An Inspiration from a Cricketer

There are people who are legends, there are people for whom the statistics speak and then there are people who inspires. These people are not role model but they silently prove their point through sheer determination and performance. As I was watching the recent WI vs Nz one day cricket tournament, the performance of Christopher Henry "Chris" Gayle inspired me beyond reason.

This man is probably one of the finest and most destructive player after Viv Richards that Jamaica have produced. Brian Lara certainly enjoys the title of "Legend" but Chris Gayle through his performance has lifted his status to a level where he is a sure match winner on his day. His performance in T20 over the past 3 years is nothing short of legendary folklore. In the 2011 IPL he scored more IPL runs than any other batsman – 608 at an average of 67.55 and strike-rate of 183.13 – and in 2012 did better with 733 runs at a strike-rate of 160.74, scoring eight 50-plus scores, the most in IPL 5. After lighting up the past two IPL seasons with some tremendous hitting, and treating fans in Bangladesh, Australia and Zimbabwe to some audacious Twenty20 innings. His Test and One day records are also envying by any standard. This has not only made him richest cricketer in his country but also has compelled his corrupt cricket board to reconsider their decision to drop him from National squad.

In India there are few cricketers who have stood against the BCCI and yet made progress in their career. Their careers have been cut short and most of them have faded away. The same thing could have happened to Chris Gayle. But he never gave up. He played with such a fearless cricket that bowlers across the world were nervous to bowl against him. The people who once wrote him off were forced to re-consider his talent. If you take a look at Wikipedia for Chris Gayle and go through the section "Controversies" you will realize that all the charges points to one fact that he has spoken out against the Organization that control the fate of cricket players in his country. The result was the loss of 2 years of his international career. But his love and dedication of for the game actually forced these people to take him back. This is called the power of performance.

We often find that in our day to day lives, decision made by organizations around us may not be always in favor of our well being. We try and raise our voice, sometimes as individual & sometimes as group but when the organization turns around to fight most of us leaves the ground. This brings us to the most important question "Is it necessary that the Organization has to be correct, always"? Organizations are made of people and it’s the level of commitment and integrity of the people that defines the stature of the organization. Yes the guidelines of the organizations are good to follow but it’s never too bad to question them. If Pythagoras & Aristotle did not stand against the social notion that the earth is flat then we would have done centuries of research based on a wrong social concept. Similarly if Raja Rammohan Ray did not stand against the social norm of ‘Sati’ then we would have lost many souls to this practice. Even today there are decisions taken by the government or the housing society in which you live or in the company where you work, which may not always be in the best interest of people. In these situations what should we do?

There is no right answer to this question. But if you look at what Chris Gayle have done, you will realize that he has stood his ground and have displayed a passion for his the game which allowed him to sail through the turbulence. If you stand for a cause which is right and will benefit the well being of people then you should stand your ground. Giving up is not an option but sailing forward is the way ahead but the important thing is that one should be true and honest to ones work. The key lesson here is "the power of performance". If you perform well in your field then one way or the other you will be recognized or forced to be recognized.

Hirok Rajar Deshe....

The title of this blog might not be familiar with many of my friends but just for them, this is the same title as the movie directed by Satyajit Ray. It literally means "In the land of diamond king". When we were growing up this movie appealed to us in a way like any other fairly tale had. Now that we are able to see and conceive the world around us this movie had unfolded a new meaning and dimension before us. The greatness of Satyajit Ray was that his movies transcended the boundary of time and today when we look around the political scenario it looks like the movie being played in front of our eyes.

The story is set in a fairy land which is known to be rich and famous as it has diamond mines called Hirak Rajya (Land of Diamonds). The main protagonist of the movie Goopy and Bagha are bored with their lives as crown prince’s of Shundi and Halla gets a chance to visit Hirak Rajya. On reaching there they realize that the king is a tyrant. Diamonds and riches get pent up in his treasuries, while his subjects starve and suffer. Those who protest are taken care of in the 'Jantarmantar', a chamber for brainwashing devised by a famous scientist who is sponsored by the King. The only enemy the king has in his land is Udayan Pandit. He is a school teacher and, more than that, he is a believer of values and who speaks his mind freely in public. Now through various struggles Udayan along with Goopy and Bagha manages to dethrone the kind and brainwash him to such an extent that in the last scene he is seen to bring his own statue down.

We as Indians harp about our erstwhile culture, history and growth story but inside the story is same, rich becoming richer, poor becoming poorer. Citizens can’t raise their voice. Those who protest are either killed or silenced with muscle power. May be there is few people who gather strength to protect against the government but that never bulges into a movement to dethrone the ruler. People are brainwashed during election time and then for the next five year they pay heavy price for that brain washing.
The past three years when the country was trying to prevent itself from economic collapse it came across the biggest scams of the millennium. If that wasn’t enough,the decision of the central government on key issues were so lame duck that now the country is liming towards self destruction.
A few of the decisions in the last few months were so baffling that I am yet to find any logical explanation to them:

1) A cameraman caught few ministers watching porn in assembly - Result: media is now banned from entering assembly.

2) There is a rise of crime against women in Gurgaon - Result: Women are advised not to venture out after 8:00pm

3) Indian railways needs fund to modernize and improve its infrastructure and the obvious choice is raising the fare - Result: The coalition partner destabilize the government.

The greatest difference between movies and real life is that, in movies the ending always makes the audience happy. We see the Hirok Raja after being brainwashed in his own machine bringing down his own statue and ending the tyrant rule. When will this happen in real life? A country with so much potential is being slowly consumed in the smoke of the fire which is self ignited. I have merely found some striking similarity between my childhood fairy tale story and the rule that we are witnessing now. And like that fairy tale story I want the tyrant rule to end. When will this happen?

Evolution - Men and Heroes

It’s often argued that cinema acts as a mirror of the society. No matter how blurred the image, the mirror shows, it succeeds to portray a generic sketches of the society of the prevailing time. Taking this argument forward does it mean that the hero’s portrayed in today’s Hindi movie reflect the general psychology of Indian male. The reason for bringing out this argument is that many of the old movies are remade recently and you can see the difference in the on screen character across the generation.

Movies like Umrao Jaan, Don, Agneepath etc. has been remade in recent time and the characters of Nawab Sultan Khan, Vijay(aka Don) or Vijay Dinanath Chauhan have undergone drastic change. Can this change be attributed to the change in masculinity over the ages?  

Why only stick to Hero’s alone..even villains have undergone transformation. They are no longer the bad guys who get beaten up in the end. They are cleaver and suave and stylish. The heroes on the other hand are more health conscious and come clean shaven irrespective of the scene. If he is not going to college or spending his dad’s money he may be seen romancing the heroine on some exotic locales. The heroes are now born in well to do families and no longer struggles to stay alive (At least in most cases). This fact seems to highlight the rise of the middle class in urban India. It’s no longer the days where old spice is a luxury but Hugo Boss is a part of most wardrobes these days. The urbanization and rise of multiplexes in India means that people are not interested to see the poor guy and rich girl story nor are they interested to see the angry young man. People are more willing to see an understanding man who loves and loves to be loved. He is non violent and would go to any extent to please the lady love but since there is no villain so his physical ability is never questioned.

The hero of yester years were not too keen to tear their shirt or show his martial art skills and in pretext show off his sculpted body. His appeal was the raw kick and punch that he would use to overpower the villain to rescue his lady love. The victory of good over evil would come at the cost of death and destruction around him. Today the struggle is more against the system or ones inner self. The good old days of bad villain is gone now.

The modern hero does not have to deal with widow mother and an unmarried sister who is always the target of the villain or his sidekick. He is brought up well and not much time is given to his family. If required then only a sister or uncle or dad is put in the movie. Yes the nucleated family is very well reflected in the screen play and the selfishness and individualism is very well reflected in his mannerism. This is a social change which we can’t deny.

The Vinay, Vijay, Vishwanath is replaced by Raj, Sid, Chulbul Pandey ‘s in the movie. Not to forget the importance of item number in the script. In the earlier movies if and only if there is a Don or a Gabbar Singh in the movie one could expect Helen aunty to dance to keep him happy. The set up now has changed to urban India but the mindset of audience has not changed hence the need for item number has gone up. Today the publicity of a movie depends on the peppy numbers that are used in the disc & night clubs across the country so the producers have no choice but to hire a Munni or Sheila.

Gone are the days of poetic lyrics and soulful voices, today’s hero can sing songs in different voices and he is not too bothered behind the poetry behind it. So long as he can lip sync it properly the girl standing in front would be impressed. This is because today the world runs on quantity and not quality. No one cares if your movie has become silver jubilee or golden jubilee. If they can recover the producer money in the first week shows then the project is successful. Yes movies are a project now and executed with precision and planning. You don’t get a year to complete your project. It must be done at max 180 days with 30 days to top it up with publicity. The PR team earns more than the singers of the movie so I guess we should restrict our expectation regarding the emotional aspect of movie making.

The story of the movie always appeals to the movie goers. This one common factor ties all the generations together. But the star appeal today and help the producer to recover his money in the 1^st weekend even the movie is a complete trash. Hence the star sometimes becomes bigger than the movie which is acceptable so long as the product is good. Yes movie is an entertainment product for us, the consumers. I guess this mentality stems from the economic environment around us. The consumer chooses the product based on reviews and word of mouth publicity.

So cinema is undergoing an evolution from becoming a piece of art to a FMCG product. There is no harm with this change so long as people get the value of the money they spent. Heroes and villains are also under going change to suit the demands of the people. The evolution of Indian men and his masculinity is a similar process. We all welcome this change. The evolution of humans is always accompanied by change and so this process is one of the most natural manifestations of nature.