Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Alex Zachariah reviews Pyasaa

Last night at the insistence of my father, I managed to wander into a screening of what was being billed an “Indian Auteur” series for the film “Pyaasa” by the much revered Guru Dutt.
Being an avid fan of film, and with extensive training in film and literary theory I was really quite skeptical of the word “Auteur.” After all, I had studied the works of Bergman, Kurisawa, Ford and extensively studied the works of Polanski and Kubrick and had never even heard of Guru Dutt , despite my Indian heritage.
I was quite pleasantly surprised that not only is Guru Dutt a true Auteur worthy of the same level of praise as the previously mentioned directors, but likely influenced Kubrick in the great film “Barry Lyndon” and almost certainly influenced Polanski in the masterpiece “Chinatown.” Whether you are bringing “civility” to the new world, water to Los Angeles or democracy to India there comes very complex social and moral questions that the leaders in society must answer for, and Dutt explores this in “Pyaasa” with all the elegance, candor and complexity with which a subject like this deserves.
A true deconstruction of the film would require multiple viewings picking apart all the elements that go into crafting a scene, but as there are only a handful of watchable copies left, I will attempt to deconstruct only some of the more complex social issues from a film theory perspective from memory and only after one viewing.
On the surface, “Pyaasa” is a movie about the promise that India gave to its people in 1947, and had not delivered on by the time the film was completed in 1957. However, the way in which this messaging was achieved by influencing form rather than content is nothing short of brilliant.
Every character in the film is carefully crafted. The writing for each character is flawless and the acting magnificent (despite the melodrama and many songs that may turn off certain western audiences) to represent a piece of contemporary Indian society.
The character of Vijay represents India’s “Everyman.” Dutt’s acting is neutral, and with every facial expression of simultaneous concern and acceptance he conveys the conscience of the masses in India. He is adrift in a democracy that values wealth over art, and the accumulation of objects to reflect social status over the natural beauty that surrounds them. The opening scene finds Vijay contemplating the beauty that surrounds him and the natural innocence of his surroundings represented in a bee that lands on the soft ground, only to be crushed by the western shoe of a passer-by. This sets the theme for the rest of the movie that India is losing its inner and outer beauty to the crushing commercialization of it society.
Early on in the movie, Vijay’s family is carefully constructed to represent a metaphor for the contrasting nature of India’s transition. While I don’t believe that Dutt was calling for a return to the old ways before independence, Vijay’s mother clearly represents the loving mother India that could once produce Vijay who represents art, culture and the pursuit of loftier emotions and expression that is clearly being extinguished in the new India. Vijay’s brothers on the other hand represent the new India. Greedy, corrupt, without morals. They continually refer to Vijay as a “good for nothing” with no place, or prospects in society. Truly he is meant to be unemployed. His brother sells his collection of works entitled “Shadows” for 10 annas to be used as waste paper. Vijay never fights back against his brothers. On the surface, one could see that perhaps Vijay is depressed and too weak to fight back; however, Dutt deliberately shows his own face in shimmering light throughout this scene and there is no ambiguity in reading his acting as anything but neutral. He feels that he cannot fight back, so his paralysis imposed upon him by his brothers is the same as the paralysis imposed upon the artistic and cultured individuals in Indian society that may not attach a monetary value to everything, particularly art.
The women in Vijay’s life present an interesting insight into Dutt’s motivation for the film. On the one hand he found love one time with Meena. She inspired him to write the most beautiful poetry that ended up becoming his great work “Shadows.” In fact, I believe that the reason that Dutt called the collection “Shadows” is because Meena represents the India that Vijay was in love with. The one that is being crushed under the boot of commercial success. The substance is gone and only the shadow remains. Meena herself, full of youth and beauty “sold out” and chased wealth and economic security instead of taking a chance on a beautiful soul such as Vijay. There is an underlying understanding between them that if she (the potential that India had from ’48-’52) had explored how to nurture and love the likes of Vijay there could have been true happiness between them, but instead she sold out to the new form that India was taking represented by the reprehensible Mr. Gosh. Mr. Gosh represents everything that his wrong with India today. He has crushed and manipulated the beautiful soul of Meena and now uses his power and economic influence to craft society the way he sees fit. In the new Indian democracy he is what is wrong, and Dutt brilliantly foreshadows the next six decades of corruption at the highest levels of government in one scene where Vijay’s childhood friend asks if Mr. Gosh will bribe everyone, and he answers that he will use all of his wealth to keep himself from ruin at the expense of Vijay.
The character of Sreeram?? Played by Johnny Walker it serves two purposes. In a film with such heavy themes, a little comic relief is necessary to serve as a spoonful of sugar to wash down the socio-political lessons that come with the film. However, the song that he sings is also representative of the innocent fools in India. The ones that can contently drink or massage themselves with oil to distract themselves from the economic oppression that they feel on a day to day basis. The very words of his song demonstrate this. “Take my oil massage and you will feel good.” I believe that Dutt is showing here that massages, alcohol and the lighter side of society act like the proverbial opiate for the masses of Indian society. While they may have been similar films with as much artistry as Piyassa in the coming years, Bollywood became much more known for their light hearted love stories that did not touch on such critical social themes.
Finally, in any film theory deconstruction you cannot avoid is speaking about structure. Order, disorder and order restored. The way that order is restored gives the most clear understanding of the social and political motivations of the director. This is also true in Pyaasa. Order – Vijay is adrift in poverty, unemployment and heart break. Despite his considerable skill as a poet there is no place for him in society. Vijay meets a prostitute who is very cunning, but buys his poems and recognizes the beauty in them immediately. Disorder – The educated are put to work as coolies. Despite Vijay’s brilliance as a poet he is forced into labour so that he can feed himself and works for the detestable Mr. Gosh. He is forced into an undignified position as there is no place for him in modern society. Gulab is left to pine for a man who she has fallen in love with, but because of her social station she is dismissed and not taken seriously. Her life is continuously in danger and she is pursued ominously by traditional sites of authority like the police. Only Vijay can save her or show her a kindness, but a separation still exists because of her social station in life. During this time Vijay’s mother (mother India) has drawn her last breath and the Vijay is sent into chaos. Feeling he has nowhere to turn he goes to kill himself, and performs one last act of kindness for a poverty-stricken beggar. The beggar having no face or station follows Vijay blindly but Vijay leads him to annihilation as there is no escaping the trappings or the coming wave (represented by a ceaseless train) of economic oppression for the poor. Order-restored – In presumed death, Vijay achieves the kind of success that he could never achieve when everyone thought he was alive. He is a prisoner in a mental asylum (the very makeup of Indian society) but the people close to him are getting wealthy on the back of his genius. He exposes himself to the public and should now have all that he lacked before in money and fame, but he rejects all of it. Seeing the trappings of the new commercial India where loyalty and friendship mean nothing and the commercialization of art is more important the art itself, Vijay rejects and admonishes his new fame. Meena (India’s potential) asks him reconsider, and he can only look upon her with pity as she was so quick to sell out that she will never understand why he cannot.
The final scene is reminiscent of what would become feminist film theory in the 1970’s. Similar to the theory that a woman can only be an angel or a whore, there is only one option from both Vijay and Gulab. There is no place in Indian society for a brilliant poet that can hold a mirror up to society and ask it to be morally accountable. There is no place in Indian society for a hooker, no matter how golden her heart is. The only alternative they have is annihilation. Vijay says he will go to a faraway place where he can go no further, and in a mystical sequence calls Gulab down to come with him so that they can both walk into the clouds and die. “This world is yours, you can have it” is Vijay’s final suicide note that comes with the hope that he will find a place in the next life beyond all of the greed and corruption that has infected India since the hope and potential directly following independence.

A truly great film, Dutt explores the complex social issues of his time and presents them with such poignancy that he truly deserves to be mentioned as an all-time great on this one film alone. It is extremely rare that a director can convey with such mastery such complex themes by form rather than content, and Dutt truly deserves the title of Auteur.

Alex Zachariah

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Anumati - Review by Renu Mahajan


The Sixth Annual Hidden Gems Film Festival kicked off with Anumati (Assent) by Director Gajendra Ahire. Veteran Actor Vikram Gokhale plays the lead role in the film as Ratnakar Pathare who is dealing with inner turmoil whether to sign the Do not Resuscitate form for his comatose wife played by Neena Kulkarni, or not. The hope to see her come out of the coma sends him on a wild goose chase to find money any which way he can. He is ready to sell his house for pittance. He goes to his daughter who manages to give him little she can, goes to his brother who cheats him out of his inheritance and also to his old college friend played by Rima Lagoo. Vikram Gokhale’s acting skills are commendable and moves you until you can feel the anger, the pain and his helplessness. He won National Film award for his riveting performance. The rain drenched backdrop and melancholy and haunting musical score adds to the elements of pathos in the story.

Dozakh - In Search of Heaven - Review by Renu Mahajan


On May 23rd Hidden Gems showcased Dozakh-in search of Heaven. Writer, Director and Producer Zaigham Imam has truly created one of the best films on religious tolerance. The actor and co-producer Pawan Tiwari has brought the character of the Muslim cleric alive and real on the screen. The innocent son of the cleric does not comprehend the intolerance of religion and is fascinated by the colorful stories weaved by the Hindu priest and his own school teacher, thus going against his father. It is a simple slow moving film that highlights the relationship between the two neighboring religious communities through the antics of the little boy of the Cleric. This film is bound to touch deeply and shake up the psyche of people intolerant toward other religions.