ARANYER DIN RATRI : Characters and theme which bind the story

Abstract and the theme of the film :

friends travel to spend their days in the forest as a means of relief and freedom from the different aspects of modern society which result in a change in their lives. 

Theme of the movie is pursuit for the freedom 

Characters in the film
                                                                     ASHIM

Ashim is the character who was coming from a very sophisticated working background and wanted to get away from rules and regulations for at least the time they spend in the forest. As he mentions that in his dialogue with Aparna before the climax.Hence as the theme of the story is the pursuit of freedom, the characters need is freedom from rules and regulations.

                                                                        APARNA

Aparna is the girl who resides with his father and sister in law near the forest away from the city life but due to her par excellence memory power which is a gift from nature she also was remembering the things which she wanted to forget such as her mother's death in a fire accident and her brother's death who was a friend of her. She wanted to be free from the memories and she could to some extent with the arrival of  Ashim and his friends and the time spent together.

HARI

Hari was an aggressive and more casual young man who was fed up of the love relationship he was having in the city. He comes to the forest with his friends sleeping all the time in the car which symbolizes the tiredness which he is facing after the adjustments and sophisticated relationships in the city. He is sleeping most of the time during initial periods until he finds a tribal girl in the forest. He wanted to be free from the sophisticated and complex relationship in the city.

SHEKAR

Shekar was a comical character who brought life to the group while traveling. As in the film, there is a dialogue of Ashim stating the reason why he accompanied Shekar with him is to bring some life into the trip. Shekar had quit the job for coming to the trip which symbolizes the freedom he was enjoying. He was a comical character in the movie and didn't have any pair also. 

SANJAY

As the attire of Sanjay itself reveals some facts about him. He was a scholar and unlike the others, he was a hesitant personality towards having relationships with women. He was a much-controlled man than others in his behaviors and was working in a company in a compelled manner due to his financial needs. He wants freedom from his own controlled nature and some time of relief from the job. But when he gets to understand Jaya during the tour and the extent to which her controlled behavior leads her, It was like a mirror shown to him.

                                                                     JAYA

Jaya was a widow living with her father in law and sister in law near the forest and enjoys for some moment with Sanjay and his friends. By the end of the movie, she explodes her feelings which were controlled till now by her as a widow through wearing a colorful dress for the first time and trying to seduce Sanjay but then after some moment with guilt cries and goes back to her room. The character of Jaya portrays an inner conflict of a widow who has to suffer the suicide of her husband. She needed freedom from her own controlled nature like Sanjay.

                                                                     

                                                                         DULI

Duli was a tribal widow who was directly opposite to the character of Jaya. As she was much more free in nature. She drinks alcohol, works for a living and moves along with her tribe. Her husband died due to snake bite. She was also a symbol of freedom in the movie which Hari aspires.

Analysis of some Oscar winning scripts and their similarity in quality

In this blog, I would be presenting some of my viewpoints on the story elements which are present in the movies which won Oscars for best original screenplays such as Manchester by the sea, Her, Eternal Sunshine and Spotless Mind, Almost famous, King's speech, Little Miss Sunshine and Juno

OPENING SCENE :

It is said that the main feature which a good movie or script would have is the opening scene of the movie which could get you the whole movie packed subtly into one scene. Let's look at the Academy award-winning scripts and their opening scenes.

Manchester by the Sea (2016)

The opening scene of this film starts with a shot of a vast sea and then moves to the boat where Uncle Lee and Patrick (kid) are having a very jovial conversation. As the ship was shown with its name "Clauda Marie" initially but the people who were having conversation were taken from a distance as long shot. As audience couldn't see their faces during conversation

In fact, the main conflict was also metaphorically stated through dialogues at the above opening scene.

Little Miss Sunshine

Above opening scene of Little Miss Sunshine is considered to be a brilliant work so far. As without any dialogue, the total story is told within this scene. The shot starts with Olive hoover's specs and a glare of the program on Tv which is not so clear at the start but then it becomes clear. But As it is a glare it is far from her eyes and that is a beauty pageant competition and the winner is shown in the competition. The story of the movie is totally about unfulfilled dreams.


Eternal Sunshine and Spotless Mind

Above scene of eternal sunshine and spotless mind looks very normal start of the day initially but when we have a visit after watching the total film. We could recognize that this scene has told the story in a very subtle way through this scene. As there is a shot of two hanging birds of different color sitting under the same shelter which determines the story of how two entirely different characters could live together only with the help of love. When Joel opens his eyes there is a sound of a vehicle passing away symbolizing his memory in the story.


Like in the above examples there are other exemplary movies also which gives away the story in a very first scene not in a forced way but in a very subtle way such as writing the titles with pencil and starting with showing rockstar photos in Almost famous

                                                      (Almost Famous)

Extreme close up of Theodore while reading and posting a love letter in the movie Her.

or the first unsuccessful speech of the king in King's speech

There is also a hidden relationship between the opening and the last scene of film in these films like
In KING'S SPEECH, the opening scene is an unsuccessful scene and the closing scene is the successful lengthy speech which is delivered by him. The two scenes also determine the character arc totally. Some films are directly communicating like in king's speech and some have a very metaphorical way to convey their closing scene. As writing these scenes may or may not be intentional by the scriptwriter or director but I think when people spend a significant amount of time with the story and script, they tend to come up with such opening as well as closing scene.

Theme of these movies and Characters contributing to the theme

From the learned and gathered knowledge about cinema, For instance, if we take the whole                "story" as the human body I consider Theme as the heart. A theme of the movie will ensure that the story is more effective and the characters would be supporting or against the theme which would make it more adorable. Theme hereby I consider the basic idea in which the whole story is built. Most stories are not written keeping a theme in mind and I consider that's the best way to do it because stories cannot be made mechanically or through formulas but when we edit the story for its second or third draft these things become useful to polish the story and raise standards. 

Some examples of Theme and Character relation in the movie

Little Miss Sunshine won the academy award for best screenplay 2006.

Screenplay by Michael Arndt

"Theme binds the story together" 

Little Miss Sunshine is the best example for that 

The basic idea or the theme of the movie Little Miss Sunshine is "Dreams and their Fulfillment/ Unfulfillment"

Characters in the movie

1. Olive Hoover

She is the central character driving the story forward towards a beauty contest where Olive is being selected called Little Miss Sunshine. She now has a dream to win the contest.
But she doesn't sacrifice any of her favorites such as ice cream or food and prepares herself with the help of her grandfather. She has a small tummy which looks cute but odd when she participates the competition at the end.

2. Dwayne Hoover

He is very much committed towards his dream to be a pilot. He understands every member of his family as a failure and doesn't want to be one among them and stays aloof but deep inside his heart, he loves them. He sacrifices speaking and does regular exercise for getting selected. But gets to know while the journey that he has a disability which is a hindrance to becoming a pilot and understands that he would not become a pilot in his lifetime.

3.Frank Ginsburg

Frank's character is shown to have already attempted suicide due to his failure in a love relationship and is discharged from hospital and taken to Hoover family by Sheryl Hoover. He is the character who had experienced deeply"dreams being unfulfilled" at the commencement of the film.

4. Edwin Hoover

Edwin Hoover is the grandfather of Olive  Hoover and also her coach for beauty pageant contest. He is an outspoken old man who experiences his family as dysfunctional one. But loves his grandchildren very much. He is also a motivation to Olive whenever she feels down. He doesn't have a dream for himself but with his experience of life advice Dwayne to enjoy life. He feels it more important to enjoy life than pursuing dream

5.Sheryl Hoover

She is a stressed woman who constantly tries to bring her family together but ends in a fight with Richard Hoover(her second husband) who is a motivational speaker and couldn't help the family financially. She wants unity and happiness in the family more than pursuing any dream and therefore tries to be a support system for everyone's dream

6. Richard Hoover

He is a motivational speaker who is totally for pursuing dreams and believes in some concepts strongly and tries to impose the same in his family. He believes strongly that if you enter a competition then it should be for solely winning and only accepts winners in his family which gives Olive's dream a compulsive nature to win. As by the end of the movie he  understands and takes failure in a positive way.

Hence every good story and its character has a direct relationship with the central theme of the movie. This binds the total story together.