gruvy-muvy's Reviews

A Trip to Infinity (2022)

8/10

17 October 2022

Thought provoking, but as an earlier reviewer here suggests there could have been spiritual viewpoint.

Hindu spirituality has attempted to address infinity in the Vedas:

Om Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnat Purnamudachyate Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnameva Vashishyate Om Shanti Shanti Shantih

(Aum! That is infinite, this is infinite. Infinity proceeds from Infinity. If Infinity is taken away from Infinity, it still remains as Infinity. Aum! May there be Peace Peace Peace!)

This is a prayer taken from the Isha Upanishad, which is a part of the Yajur Veda, 1st millennium BC.

Purna=Infinity/Perfection/Wholeness, which may be equated to Brahman, the creative energy that is anaakar (formless), anaadi (beginningless) and anant (endless), and gives rise to all phenomenal beings in the time/space continuum.

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Kala (I) (2021)

8/10

I have a different opinion...

1 July 2022

I am not sure if the makers intended this or not, but I think 'Kala' is loosely based on the deity, Kala Bhairaveshwara, which might also explain the title.

Bhairava is the fierce avatara of Lord Shiva, and whose accompanying animal is dog.

Hence the fierce, uncouth, indomitable, almost superhuman nature of the tribal who arrives to exact revenge, just as Bhairava was created to cut off the head of Daksha, the privileged upper class leader who insulted Lord Shiva.

Further, I am not sure at what point the track was used, but there is an attribution to Adi Shankaracharya for the track, 'Kala Bhairava Alchemized' in the end credits.

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Midnight Mass (2021)

9/10

Advaitic ending

27 June 2022

A thought provoking show that combines religion, intrigue and bigotry, leading up to an apocalyptic climax. Great job by the entire cast/crew.

The content in Erin's monologue towards the end ('...it's like a drop of water falling back into the ocean, of which it's always been a part') is nothing but Advaita: a Hindu tenet that considers all living and nonliving beings to be indivisible parts of the one Brahman - the eternal, formless Cosmic Unity (one of the reasons for the other name for Hinduism; Sanatana Dharma = Eternal Duty/Faith).

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Man vs. Bee (2022)

7/10

B-eega!

27 June 2022

I am not suggesting that the makers of this series did this intentionally, but if you have seen 'Eega' by S S Rajamouli, you will see that it's the same thing: man troubled by an insect.

Only in this case it is a bee, and the plot is comical; while in the former it is a housefly with a sinister intention of revenge.

Atkinson's antics are reminiscent of Mr Bean's, only he gets to speak in this one.

Short and enjoyable fare!

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Panchayat (2020– )

10/10

Rustic ramblings

15 April 2020

What happens when an uptight reluctant urban graduate goes to work for a village panchayat with all its colourful idiosyncratic characters?

This 'Swades' meets 'Malgudi Days' affair set in a north Indian village provides the answers.

There is a certain way the village and its denizens work which is different from what we are used to in cities. This we find out through Abhishek's travails. The village itself looks charming and the Pradhan's house is beautiful.

Great writing and superb understated performances, especially by the two masters: Raghuvir Yadav and Neena Gupta, make this just the kind of content we have been craving for on Indian screens.

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Sulle Sathya: The Real Lie (2013)

The truth of false relationships

13 April 2020

Based on Guy de Maupassant's story, 'The False Gems', this short film is an examination of the complicated aspects of marital relationships in the Indian context. It was featured in the Short Film Corner of the 66th Cannes Film Festival.

Hypocrisy and irony are the two underlying universal themes of this story.

We are quick to jump to conclusions about somebody's behaviour, and when that somebody happens to be a woman in a patriarchal setup, the male protagonist is quick to judge her and jump to conclusions about her character. The hypocrisy lies in the fact that the male protagonist does not hesitate to make use of the resources left behind by the woman to bail himself out of difficult circumstances. To me, he is representative of all of us, since we are all, to varying extents, hypocrites.

The irony of the protagonist's life is that he never gets what he seeks for himself. Too late, he realizes that his first relationship - in spite of all the falsehood surrounding the first love and all the attention showered on him by the second one - was what sustained him all along.

'Sulle Sathya' shows that what was relevant in Maupassant's French society of the 19th Century is still applicable in the present day Indian society.

Congratulations to the director, Mr Akash Srivatsa for making it to the Cannes with this film.

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Mentalhood (2020– )

7/10

Can't hear dialogues: sort out background music

10 March 2020

Reminiscent of issues-based sitcoms like 'Wagle ki Duniya' and 'Rajni' and 'Sheldon', except this one is about parenting and motherhood.

Good concept, but the godawful LOUD background music drowns the dialogues. And there are no subtitles on the Zee5 app (in March 2020).

All act decently, but Tillotama Shome is the saving grace.

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Katha Sangama (2019)

8/10

Watch it for Paravva

22 January 2020

When you are told you are about to watch a tribute to Puttanna Kanagal, you just watch.

Kanagal's 'Katha Sangana' had three short stories, whereas this one has seven. I am not sure about the intention behind naming every cast/crew member that ever worked with Kanagal at the beginning of the film.

'Rainbow Land' is a feel good father-daughter story. 'Sathya Katha Prasanga' is psychedelic with good acting by Prakash Belawadi (trivia: it is shot in Malleswaram). I couldn't help thinking of one of R K Narayan's distressed characters from 'Malgudi Days' during both these stories.

'Girgitle' is bizarre, and 'Utthara' leaves us with a question instead of an answer. 'Padavaralli' is abrupt and 'Sagara Sangama' appears, at least to me, pointless.

They certainly saved the best for the last: 'Lachavva'. Kudos to the makers for extracting the most natural performances by what appear to be non-actors, or 'real people'.

The lead actress, Paravva, easily steals the show and brings tears to one's eyes with her effortless acting. The story is also symbolic of the urban predicament of mass-migration from villages into cities.

My average rating of this film increased mainly because of 'Lachavva'.

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Ujda Chaman (2019)

7/10

Remake of a Kannada film

5 January 2020

This is a less than satisfactory remake of the Kannada film, 'Ondu Motteya Kathe' (= 'Story of an Egg'). Here's why:

The original cleverly uses the bespectacled and unconventional looks, the coastal Kannada dialect, and of course the natural baldness of Raj B Shetty (actor & director) to tell a comic story with a message.

Whereas 'Ujda Chaman' has to recreate this situation which makes it a tad contrived and less effective than the original.

Still, a decent watch if you have not seen the original.

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Trapped (XVII) (2016)

9/10

Urban entrapment

27 November 2019

Symbolic of our urban entrapment wherein we are caught in an eternal struggle for survival.

The notion of 'deficiency in the midst of plenty' is depicted here through the predicament of the protagonist who is trapped in a high-rise building in the middle of a concrete jungle, even as he battles depleting resources and pests, just to survive.

Rao, as is expected of him, excels in what is essentially a solo character tale, akin to Tom Hanks' in 'Cast Away'.

Gritty and engaging.

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Jallikattu (2019)

9/10

Manimals

24 November 2019

This is not the Tamil Jallikattu, but a whole different kind of sport - one of savage masculine behaviour inflicted upon a single animal, which makes for disturbing viewing.

This is the way I look at this film:

'Jallikattu' is an allegorical tale of mankind's eternal struggle to subdue Nature. However it is not possible to control Nature, and when she runs riot, the result is mayhem. In their eagerness to control and consume the beast, the menfolk of the village are themselves reduced to a primal state of savagery symbolized by the human mound that engulfs the buffalo in the end.

Are the villagers eating buffalo meat (which I believe is called buff or carabeef) due to the ban on beef? This is not apparent from watching the film, or perhaps I am missing something.

That the villagers love meat in their daily diet is established when they incongruously hang their morning meat purchase to a tree before entering the place of worship. When the buffalo runs amok, the villagers' reaction is sharp, which is reflected in their over-the-top acting, and a farcical chase across the village and the forest.

Therefore I also see this as a commentary against non-vegetarianism wherein a free-spirited buffalo refuses to be reduced to becoming somebody's meal, and decides to take its fate in its own hands - or hooves, in this case.

Either way, in the end, the men appear beastlier and ghastlier than the beast itself.

This is a short film that moves at a rapid pace, thanks to the crisp editing and great sound effects.

Not easily 'digestible' by all.

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Ugly (2013)

8/10

If ugly is your thing

17 November 2019

Child abduction, adulterous wives, police brutality... Yup, they're all here...

Kashyap seems to be attracted to the ugly side of life. His characters are various shades of grey. If anything, they're a shade darker than in real life.

Worth a watch if you pardon a few loose ends, and if you don't mind ugly personalities, ugly intentions and ugly behaviours that result in ugly consequences and a bitter after-taste in the mouth...

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The Homesman (2014)

8/10

Journey through madness

6 November 2019

Warning: Spoilers

What could go wrong when three schizophrenic women are escorted on a perilous journey from Nebraska to Iowa by a lonely spinster and a reluctant drifter?

One heck of a journey riddled with scenes of mental breakdown, absconsion, self-harm, arson, murder and suicide.

Not knowing the cultural history of the period/region, I shall refrain from commenting on that.

Instead, I see this as a take on madness, in which the so-called sane duo, the spinster and the drifter, appear on various occasions to be madder than the three women they are escorting; it is difficult to say which of the duo is madder than the other. There are no good or bad characters here, just varying shades of grey.

The three women, as I perceived them, display varying traits of schizophrenia - the Danish woman is schizomanic and has grandiose delusions, another woman has thought disorder and utters nothing other than 'Tha... tha...', and the youngest one appears catatonic with prolonged staring spells.

The spinster, though strong-willed, is desperate for male company, and propositions every passing male to marry her. She even compels the drifter, several years older than herself, to 'keep her honour'.

The very next day she hangs herself, literally and figuratively abandoning her journey. It's almost as though her life is finished after her union with the drifter, which flies in the face of any purported feminist notion.

The odd drifter becomes odder towards the end of the film as he goes on a murderous spree and dances away on the river, even as the gravestone he got made for the spinster's grave falls into the river.

An allegory of madness that shows that while the three mentally ill women eventually reach their safe haven, the outside world continues to play host to many more suicidal spinsters and eccentric drifters.

A great cinematic moment when one of my favourites, Meryl Streep, in a cameo appearance, shares screen-space with her real life daughter, Grace Gummer. Also, I would have liked a longer screen-time for my other favourite, John Lithgow.

Overall, a disturbing but engaging watch.

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Dear Comrade (2019)

8/10

Volatile romance

1 November 2019

A film that combines Leftism and cricket and mental health and romance.

Thankfully shows less of Leftism, regretfully less of cricket and mental health, and expectedly more of romance.

Devarakonda - fine actor with terrific screen presence - appears to have walked off the sets of 'Arjun Reddy' into this one, retaining the volatility and explosive nature of his character. (Although I must confess I have seen the Hindi version of the latter - 'Kabir Singh').

Mandanna and Devarakonda - are they a package deal? Because I saw them in another recommendation as well - 'Geetha Govindam'.

The mental health aspects are fudged (nobody is shackled to the bed in modern psychiatric practice, for one), and it is clear that Mandanna is not a natural cricketer.

This is really a romantic film with the other three issues added on to facilitate the romance.

Overall, worth a watch.

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