Finding Vivian Maier

Sometimes people may ask these questions to you regarding the non-official or part-time work which you are doing.

• Who is going to read it?
• Who is going to watch it?
• How can it make a difference?

The above questions does make one ponder, but some people do things which they feel like doing even though they are sure that it will not bring fame, money etc...

A Facebook status, a tweet or a blog post may seem to be worthless and merely a time waste but those small things in the long run do make a difference, same is the case with the photographs of unknown Vivian Maier who was recently discovered and stunned the photographic lovers all over the world. Finding Vivian Maier is a film which tracks the history of mysterious woman Vivian Maier. I wont say its a must watch documentary but definitely a good one.

Bumpy Journey of BJP in the Telugu land

Allow me to start this post with ironies surrounding the BJP. BJP has no active role to play in the politics of West Bengal which is the birth place of one its ideological founder. BJP was officially founded by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K.Advani, who have taken the party from 2 seats to 3 digits. Out of the 2 seats which the BJP won, one was from Andhra Pradesh and other being Gujarat and history tells us how BJP progressed in both these states.

When there was no strong opposition to counter the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh, NTR formed Telugu Deasam Party (TDP) with a landslide victory on debut. In May 1983, NTR successfully held a meeting of opposition leaders spanning across the country at Vijayawada which was attended by MGR, Ramakrishna Hegde, Farooq Abdullah, Sharad Pawar, Menaka Gandhi, L.K.Advani and others. NTR was not hesitant in showing that his regional party can play an active role at national level but the same spirit was never found with the BJP which was a national party to be an active regional player in Andhra Pradesh.

In 1994, NTR was back with a bang. TDP+ won 250 out of 294 assembly seats and L.K.Advani in a discussion with Prannoy Roy said “This marks the beginning of the end of the Congress party as the dominant political force of India”, L.K.Advani is right but the lotus failed to bloom in Andhra Pradesh despite the chances given to them.

It may come to many as a surprise that the first mayor of Vishakhapatnam (Vizag) was from BJP. N.S.N. Reddy was elected as the first mayor of Vizag and also served as an MLA. It was because of the lack of clarity and direction in state unit, the BJP could not take its leaders and ideology into the masses of Andhra Pradesh.

Tipu Sultan - The Tyrant of Mysore - Book Review

Tipu Sultan

I was a kid when Tipu Sultan serial was telecasted in Doordarshan and like many people of that generation I was under the impression that Tipu Sultan was a patriot who fought against the British for India’s Independence, but as time passed and many scholars and historians have questioned the bunkum of Marxist Historians, it became clear that Tipu Sultan was not a saint but the benefit of doubt never made me see him as a villain.

Slowly the truth about Tipu Sultan was being revealed but this was before the Internet Explosion where the truth was confined to doors of true historians but the Internet has radicalized information, the Marxist historians may still perpetuate their lies in text books but they can’t hide the truth from everyone, and ultimately the truth had to come out.

The phony glorification of Tipu Sultan was being done from a very long time and there were some tiny voices which exposed those lies but they didn't get the same attention which the fabricated works got. The first chapter of "Tipu Sultan - The Tyrant of Mysore" recollects the instance when Karnataka Higher Education Minister, D.H.Shankaramurhty somewhat instigated the most needed debate on Tipu Sultan - Girish Karnard entered the picture with his usual Marxist bile, later Girish Karnard is smashed left and right by Dr.S.L.Bhyrappa which eventually leads to Girish Karnard escaping like a rat into the hole of ‘Fact and Fiction game’ without any debate on his concocted views vs. The Truth on Tipu Sultan. This chapter encapsulates the debate which was going in Karnataka over Tipu Sultan for quite some time.

The sagacious Dr.S.L.Bhyrappa asks

"If a historian, like novelist, seeks comfort, what is the fate of the truth?"

Hyder Ali:

Hyder Ali is the father of Tipu Sultan; the author presents us the ambiguity surrounding the ancestral legacy of Hyder Ali whether he was from a royal lineage or from a humble background. The personality of Hyder Ali is lucidly explained by relying on his political moves and strategies, the way he gathered ammunition from the British and the way he looted the treasury of Nizam which helped in raising his own private army which was helpful in exploiting the fragile political situation of Mysore Kingdom and his opportunistic outlook which ultimately helped him to capture the Mysore Kingdom. There is a separate chapter dedicated to explain the incident when Tipu Sultan is flogged by his father Hyder Ali for his cowardice.

Her

Its hard to even imagine that a film can be made based on such an artificial premise - a guy falling in love with his Computer Operating System, which converses with a female voice. Spike Jonze has been devoid of the acclamation which he deserved for his previous films "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation" among casual conversations because its gets taken over by Charlie Kaufman.

Theodore Twombly played by Joaquin Phoenix wears colorful shirts, trousers without a belt and like many of us he is an ordinary man who has feelings of love, anger, sadness and also possessiveness. "Her" is about ordinary emotions of an ordinary man juxtaposed with an artificial voice of an Operating System. The relationship between a normal ordinary man with his female voice Operating System touches all imaginable weirdness but it is handled with mushy gentleness.

One thing which has strongly captured my eyes is the film's Cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema. Every frame of the film is almost perfect --- the streets, the skyscrapers, the rooms, the workplace, the lights; and each color is explicit on the screen, as if they have a point to make, of course this could not be done without the help of director. Her, gives you a totally different experience.

The Past

I had humongous expectations on Asghar Farhadi's "The Past" as his previous Oscar winning film "A Separation" was a sweet blow to me. I don't remember the works of any other director who has given me the experience of thrill while watching films of 'drama' genre. Like "About Elly" and "A Separation", "The Past" is also a thriller which revolves around issues of marriage, divorce and suicide.

Asghar Farhadi's alacrity in expressing the emotional pain of all the characters including the children is confabulate and at the same time it is blunt to the point. The first scene where the couple talk to each other with signals at the airport with a glass in between them and the last scene where life and love is tested, encapsulate the essence of the film. I think Asghar Farhadi is one of the best writers in World Cinema. "The Past" is a must watch.

Blue Is the Warmest Color

You may not like the genre, you may not like the theme, you may not like the style, you may not the taking, but can you stop yourself from not liking the performance of Adele Exarchopoulos?. "Blue Is the Warmest Color" is easily one of the best films of 2013. The film right on to your face without any regard for your inhibitions and it would take time for a normal viewer to get adjusted to the explicit material in the film. Abdellatif Kechiche pulls off this extraordinary stunt to capture the minute emotions in this non-typical narration. Watch  "Blue Is the Warmest Color" for mesmerizing performance of Adele Exarchopoulos. No wonder she was awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes.