Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Darkest Knight

Batman couldn't be better unless Christopher Nolan surprises himself. Here he is , yet again, with a power packed starcast, who strapped themselves in the back seat wearing the masks that their master provided them with , while he took his audience off to a thrilling ride.

It is difficult to stand out of the typical template of a superhero movie, but not for a Christopher Nolan, not for the one who redefined the rules of screenplay through Memento, challenged the intelligence of audience through Prestige , and turned Batman into what he is. (While i am yet to watch Insomnia, His first venture into film making 'Following' shot on a shoe-string budget on London Streets and at his friend's place is strikingly original for a thriller). One should appreciate the drive of this , who continues to guarantee what true cinema stands for and deserves - Artistic Intelligence.

What is it about Dark Knight?
Christian Bale plays the Caped Crusader, with his love interest being Rachel Dawes played by Maggie Gyllenhaal , a surprise and a wothy new entry , Aaron Eckhart(Remember the witty and canny lobbyist from Thank you for Smoking) plays Gotham's District Attorney Harvey Dent who fights against the mob crimes, Alfred the Butler , played by Michael Caine, Inspector Jim Gordon played by Gary Old man, and Lucious Fox by Morgan Freeman.

Even if i have a mental disorder or a pathetic memory, It is difficult to miss this, Dark Knight is about this one character -
The Joker
One of my friend commented , "A cheap make up and a crazy smear shall be remembered forever"Chris Nolan couldn't have left a better memorial for Heath Ledger.

Joker is Funny, he laughs on the face of every character, he makes a mockery of the shortcomings of human mind, he feeds on the weakness and makes it his strength. He is silly, he is arrogant, he is frightening, he is an idiot, or as he calls himself, he is a freak, he is a dog who chases chases cars but doesnt know what to do with them . He just does things.

He is called a clown, as he puts you to a tragic laugh, his antiques and make-up, a regular slurpy noise he makes, as he swipes his tongue across his cheek, his smirky grin, his voice thats Baritone, Squeaky and husky at the same time, his anecdotes of how he got to his victims,his rationality behind anarchy and philosophy of subconscious fear. In a huge starcast movie, where everyone is sharing a bit of screen space, he is everywhere, he is in the internal conflict of Batman, he is in the weakness of Harvey Dent, he is in the fear of Gotham.

Christopher Nolan needed a master on screen to run the show on his behalf, to move the characters, to make them run and Heath Ledger stood up to the job.

If i could borrow a blog from RGV's Blog, 'Any story is about Character Conflict' - The Dark Knight is the same, while Joker walks away with the credit of creating a conflict in Batman's character and turning him into The Dark Knight , Christian Bale as Batman walks away as the hero who outgrows the human shortcomings challenged by Joker and becomes the super hero that we would all fall in love with. Don't blink, while you watch the scene when these two meet in the Inspection Cell, you would hardly see a conversation so taut, where eyes shoot at eyes.(The last time i saw such a scene was from Drohi, between Kamal Hassan and Nasser)

Technically, I don't stand to evaluate Nolan(as i couldn't watch it in a theatre, which i surely will). He sticks to his trademark screenplay of continuously tricking the audience, though he saves us from time travel, one still needs to get his brains charged before watching it. The Nolan Brothers succeed to surpass themselves in the artistic quality after Prestige. The dialogues grow out of the best fit between the actors and the roles they donned, be it Michael Caine who says "Endure Master Wayne"  and when he adds his pun saying "Will they take me in for being your accomplice" , while Bale replies "Accomplice? I would say you are the one who planned it all". Aaron Eckhart saying "You either die as a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villian" , "I make my own luck" and of course yet again the Joker - "If you are good at something, never do it for free" and the trademark phrase "Why So Serious?"

Watch it, Watch it ASAP, WATCH IT ONLY IN THEATRES, watch it for the adrenalin rush, watch it for the fear, watch it for the thrill, watch it for the chill down your spine,watch it for the amazing visuals, watch it for the scary sound track while Joker threatens his victims, watch it for the so called Subtle Gadgets and Accessories, ranging from Bat Suit , Bat Pod and the Lamborgini.
Watch it for Cinema at its best.
If you couldnt watch it or didnt watch it, dont worry, 
The Joker will get to you.

Disclaimer : the above piece might be exaggarated due to my extreme respect and admiration towards Christopher Nolan :)

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Write or Not Right

My hesitance to express what i think or feel had as usual got me low returns. As i stared at the Industrial Economics Paper for 45 minutes and contemplated on the validity of my answers.In the inability to come to a conclusive decision about the same, I gave half the paper blank. As i sow, so i reap. I score 6/15. I should realize that this score kind of applies to a lot of other aspects of my daily life.
And the other side of it was reading too much before the exam and questioning the preparation during the exam resulted in nothing but a waste of time and effort.

Either way, it seems to be a regular phenomena with me.

The other day, watched the parliamentary proceedings for a while. I couldn't help laughing at it, not for the madness of it, but for my faint acquaintance with such situations. 

Christopher Nolan continues to prove his class.(More on this soon)
Yet another good class of industrial economics.
"With great power comes great responsibility" - It is important to read this line the other way, because, not every one is a spiderman -> Full filling great responsibility gives you great power.
Off to sleep .. zzzzz 

Friday, July 18, 2008

Geetanjali

I do not remember the last time i saw this movie, it is one movie that stands for the simplicity of Cinema. The director was just having fun with the characters while the audience couldn't deny the pleasure. I wonder how cinema had deterioted so much after such classics. It seems as if everyone whose name rolled in the credits earned their place. Everytime a new beat runs behind the screen, you cant help appreciating Illayaraja, P.C.Sriram, Veturi and Maniratnam. The sensuality of such cinema seems to have been buried in a pile of crass.Let me not run down the usual cribbing, i better continue to appreciate the good part of it.

Around 2 days ago,(rather 44 hours ago), I was sitting in this class called Industrial Economics and was having a cliff hanger experience. It was like the prof was telling me to hang on , 'here comes the final step', and when the class was over, i was on the top of the world. It is like a revelation.I went to have breakfast in the mess(one of those rare occasions), and then there was the other side of reason, sharukh khan dancing to 'Kay-Ar-A-Zee-Zee-Y , Krazzy 4'. I came to my room and thought of dropping dead, but quickly read through RGVs Blog. There was an amazing  piece on how he ended up making his Aag. One of the best confessions i have read, it still needs to get a bit close to reality. His sarcastic reactions to questions were fun. I was surprised to the extent that people observed his movies. Another piece on characterising for Satya was awesome.

So, after that i dropped dead, thought of studying for this exam MACR (Ok, behold, this is Mergers Acquistions and Corporate Restructuring). I gave up that my intelligence would not match up to the requirements of the subject, so i planned to bunk the class as well. But i get a message that there are only 3 people in the class, so i rush to the class and then there is this exam. Wow, the paper was one of a kind (let me not talk about it much).

The exam hardly lasted for 10 minutes. I came back to room and got to the blog again , then went to this so-called-SAC photo shoot, and then the consumer behaviour class. 9:00 Pm-Had dinner, came back to my room to read through Knowledge@Wharton. Lazy bugger i was, i put it on audio and slept off till 1:30. Woke up and thought of reading for Product and Brand Management exam(One of my favourite subjects of the term) , but couldn't start till 4 Am(thanks to the slow production process on the Maggi Assembly Line in Night Canteen). So with great determination, i set out to read 16 readings, i manage to complete 8 of them by 8:30 and go to breakfast (XL record, two days in a row breakfast). I sleep at 9Am, Wake up at 12 noon for PBM class. Slept in the lunch break again, attended Social Entrepreneurship class. Did average in PBM exam. I dont know what i did from 5-7:45 Pm (Oh, i downloaded gitanjali). Went to Consumer behaviour class at 7:45 Pm and then dinner outing with friends at 10. Got back to campus at 11. Talked to Sharma after a long time for a long time as usual and then got cynical about B-School.
Then talked to veena and got back to geetanjali.

As the day goes there had been too many Thanks today.
Thats it.
Why did i write all this?
So that i will read it some day and know what i used to do in a B-School.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Reason Vs Excuse


I always believed in this theory of Butterfly Effect, irrespective of classical conditional learning and developing a personality over experience for a long time, there will  be somethings that happen in life that will change things drastically.I should thank my Guide for being the Butterfly Flap.

Few things i learnt :

1)Listen : "We have two ears and one mouth , because , it is nature's way of hinting us that we need to listen twice the time we talk"(Lifted this from 7 Habits). Unfortunately, very few do this. I remember my guide saying to me before my final interview  "Listen to the Question and Mull Over it and Then Answer". After the interview(which i messed up) , I asked for the feedback , he said "You didn't listen to the question, thats it". I thought to myself "Was i Deaf or what?" I think i was, every presentation i see, every class i sit in, there will be atleast one event where the student starts off on a totally different plane when the teacher is teaching something.

2)Every Question doesn't demand an answer or a counter question : I have observed this behaviour every time I do a presentation. This tendency is so evident, the moment someone asks a question, the first thing we do is jump to answer the question. Its like an instinct, there is very little thought process involved. It more often than not goes into a situation of an Ego-Defense, while the purpose of the question was to induce a thought process and clean it.

3)Reason vs Excuse : Finally, this is one of the most important thing I miss. There is difference between a reason and an excuse. When a party is arguing for an issue and the other against, you present arguments on your side first, you don't ask for an excuse from other's argument , you counter it with a Reason. Reason takes its root from strong logic backed up by facts, Excuse backs itself from the lack of concrete reason or data, its basically a personification of either parties' inability to substantiate something. And in any argument, excuse is used by a loser, thats why debaters do research. they don't speak out of their mind or their figments of imagination. 

It has been such a great experience through the summer, that i am reliving it everyday and laugh at myself when i come across the stupidest mistakes, when i see my friends. That how we get back to the learning process.

One of the good quotes i read : 
"Tradition, long conditioned thinking, can bring about a fixation, a concept that one readily accepts, perhaps not with a great deal of thought."- Jiddu Krishnamurthy.
Now i wish i studied Sociology.

Movies that wish to see :
Grahanam : Watched Twice already, doesn't matter to watch again.
Good Night and Good Luck 

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Short Snaps

Landed on campus on 16th June.
Room No 213, The Saint Thomas Mens Residence.The Room with the view.
The day I landed in Calcutta , I didnt sleep, one can guess that i did it for no reason.
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and Aamir Songs on continuous play.
Watched Lions For Lambs - Awesome movie. Favourite Quote :
Prof :"Professors are not teachers , they are salesmen. "
Student: "what do they sell then?"
Prof: "You to You."

Mahatma Gandhi: "It has always been a mystery to me how men feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow men"

AGD stands for Attention Grabbing Disorder. [The Phrase is Trademarked]

An year Ago, My OB Prof wrote in Big Letters on board , not actually big, They were Huge Letters, and he wrote "PERCEPTION IS REALITY". Today, i feel, he should have increased the font size.

I am surprising myself everyday by the amount of notes i am taking. Funny that a single summers experience can change you so much.

I guess i am getting good at negotiating.

Is Ego a Driver or a Barrier? (I know the question isnt complete).

Few things i dread for now : Power, Politics, whats the other one, i forgot.

Zyada Maanga hain Kahan , Sarhaddein na hon jahaan , Duniya Mile Humko.

Thats it !!