TWO MORE THAN THRILLERS I SAW RECENTLY

Joseph 

The story of a man with a scar

This is basically a story about a man called Joseph who lost his daughter, divorced his wife and had to investigate the death of his most loved one. 

Lost everything in life, he doesn't have any goal as such. Just want to drink a lot and smoke a lot and live like an unwanted being and die one day. Higher officials approaching him for solving the case within very less time even after his retirement from the department is the only time when he is felt important. But the credit is always taken by other officers even those times when he served the department. Although that was not at all his concern. 

I personally think that Mr.Joju had done the role exceptionally well by rendering subtle expressions. During his old age even his way of expressing feeling lazy. He never smiles totally unlike his friends. The only time he smiled was when he spends time with them drinking and singing.

A scene which instigated an amazement in me is the one when he imagines the accident scene standing on a tea stall and with the sound of the bang, there is a subtle expression of shock perfectly matching with background sound. According to me, one should have tremendous years of experience to get it right with making it extra or less. 

“God is there for the one whom nobody cares for... sir  

Otherwise, after you beat me up like an animal I would not have sustained my life this long”.

This was the dialog before interval which conveyed a lot about the characters and movie altogether.  Ajayan, an insecure orphan is played by Tovino Thomas is a character with very low self-esteem and considers himself not so powerful to deal with anyone. Other than the main character of the movie Ajayan and his story. The movie absolutely serves best for its theme i.e, “Irresponsibility could be dangerous to the society” or like late Stanlee said, “With great power comes great responsibility”.

Let us look into the story with the theme in mind

There is a bunch of characters responsible in nature to whatever they do like Chembammal, Jalaja and the protagonist Ajayan.

In fact, Ajayan gets close to Chambakammal after an incident which determines the level of responsibility he has for doing the job correctly. One morning, Ajayan comes to Chamabakammal’s house for taking idly for the hotel but finds nothing and with desperation to complete his work correctly he gets inside the house calling for Chambakammal. Though, this causes a conflict between them that day. Chambakammal slowly understands his character and shows motherly affection afterward. 

This must have been the realization that Ajayan was an insecure boy craving for affection.

Indian Advertisements categorized as Ethos, Pathos and Logos.

Every Advertisement is an act of persuasion and a part of consumer building in the business. Hence it requires some tools such as emotions, authenticity, and facts to support the particular product or brand which you are focusing on. Hence every advertisement is categorized with these three titles or with the mixture of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.

Ethos 

Pathos 

Logos

SOME INFLUENCIAL INDIAN ADVERTISEMENTS 

• AMAZON Advertisement " Aur dhikaao":  

   

               Mostly Indian advertisements are Ethos. It may be because Indians are basically very much emotional people. To sell something to them, getting their emotional response is very much necessary.  As "Ethos" is the emotional elements added in an advertisement to sell the product. Hereby its the "Aur dhikaao" element. The craze of Indians towards choices and variety of choices which is presented as a part of our culture. This gives an emotional attachment to the advertisement. This advertisement also touches Logos mildly i.e, the choices which Amazon gives is placed at a higher level than other online shopping websites.

•  VOGUE Advertisement " My Choice" : 

              Vogue is a beauty and fashion magazine focusing on women as customers. Though this advertisement created a controversy, it was also a brilliant mixture of Pathos with Ethos. Pathos elements in this advertisement were women celebrities such as Deepika Padukone, Zoya Akhtar, Nimrat Kaur etc.  Mainly the voiceover represented Deepika Padukone ( A women diva and idol) to strongly point out the reluctance of women towards the social restrictions shoved on women which created an emotional aspect to this women empowerment campaign of Vogue.

Asgar Farhadi : Master of Character Building

Recently I understood that conflict is not the actions but the ideas of the character.  I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dir. Rajiv Menon. 

This blog will be the analysis of  Asghar Farhadi's movies and how through conflict he brings out the character.

CONFLICT: THE IDEA

Asghar Farhadi is the director who creates a masterpiece through the emotional struggle of the characters in the film. The three films mentioned above have the quality of bringing out the emotional struggle of the character as well as the social conditions in which they live. Social conditions play an important part in these movies. Hereby I would be trying to analyze the different types of conflict which and the central conflict of these films and get to a conclusion that how does he bring out the character so well that after some time I could empathize with the characters.

About Elly 

Elly a kindergarten teacher was brought by one of her friends and mother of one child she teaches, to a vacation trip planned, to meet a man named Ahmed who just returned from Germany for matchmaking. But the story unveils when Elly goes missing and her fiance comes in search of her.

I felt that the central conflict of the film is " struggle to save the honor of women in the society"

Main Characters and the conflicts they face:

Sepideh

Sepideh had her responsibilities towards Elly who she brought for the trip to meet Ahmad and was very protective of her from the beginning.As in the climax, we come to understand why she was becoming such protective in nature in case of Elly. As she wanted to help her within the restrictions of the society.(Internal conflicts)

Social conflicts she faced (Some of the examples)


Due to social restrictions, she had to lie that Ahmad and Elly are already married and came for a honeymoon.

Interpersonal Conflicts

When she hides Elly's mobile phone after she got missing, there is a fight between Amir and her.

Simultaneously when everyone compels her to tell a lie to the fiance saying that it was Elly's decision to come to trip without any force she stood for saving Elly's honor.
But then, at last, she did as the others decided.



ELLY

Elly throughout the film was so reserved in nature which symbolized her hesitation towards all that was happening, she slowly gets together with the group and everyone in the group start liking her.


Internal conflicts 

Asghar Farhadi holds the shot to his protagonists for some extended moment. Hence the audience could sense that something is wrong. As we move ahead through the story we realize that she was feeling hesitated to have a fiance and still coming to meet a man without informing her parents.

This scene where she plays with kids, She seems happy than ever. As she starts to really enjoy the trip and experience and forgets everything at that moment.  When she gets missing after the scene, this scene creates a doubt in audience mind that she was happy hence couldn't have left all the sudden.


MALE ANGER SHOWN IN A SUBTLE WAY

Amir had some bitterness inside him over the behavior of  Sepideh from the start which is also a spark leading to the fight between them.

Peyman being angry at his child and his wife.

Alireza(Fiance of Elly) beats Ahmad with anger.

Ahmad doesn't react at the point which shows the difference between Alireza and Ahmad. As like most of the men in the movie, Alireza bursts out with anger when he couldn't control his emotions and that was the reason why Elly was determined to leave him even after having 2 years relationship of being engaged.

As the Central conflict of the movie was " To save the honor of women"
The Characters were opposing and supporting the central conflict. The climax scene is crucial where the majority in the house ask Sepideh to tell a lie that Elly came to meet Ahmad without any hesitation.

In the last discussion

Peyman's opinion about Elly

Amir's  words to Sepideh

But Ahmad didn't speak a single word against her in the entire conversation which shows that Ahmad was not like other husbands and if Elly was alive. She could have led a married life which she wanted to live.

THE SALESMAN

The play of Arthur Miller " Death of a Salesman " plays a crucial role in the movie. As the real life of the character in the movie and the rehearsal's of this play is shown simultaneously. 

A small brief of the play: Willy being the central character of the play is the survivor of World war 2 and usually gets memories haunting him. He has an extramarital affair with a woman with is once witnessed by his elder son Biff.   

As Eman was playing the character of  Willy and his wife Rana being Linda in the play. The incidents similar to play takes place in their life.

The central conflict of this movie as per me is the condition when "man becoming animal " or the man losing his humanity. It's so brave of  Asghar  Farhadi to bring out such a theme and present it to an audience with such a restricted environment.

The opening scene in the movie representing the fact that even the physical needs like a home in such an environment is difficult. As building was falling apart and everyone was running to save their life. At that point, Eman showcases the first bit of humanity by taking a physically disabled child on his shoulder.

The next day in the classroom when Eman was taking a class, the boy asks him this question. 

CONFLICTS AND CHARACTER

EMAN 

Eman is a school teacher and a drama artist. In both the field, he is successful and gives his best attempts. 

Internal conflicts

Feeling empathy towards the character of Willy played by him always had a internal conflict in him. This came into action when he finds the real man who tried to molest his wife when she was alone and at last feeling empathy towards the old man he leaves him without letting his wife and children know about his deeds. 

Another conflict was "a male pride to find the guy who entered his house". 

Interpersonal conflicts

Start of the interpersonal conflict between Eman and Rana is when Eman asks her whether something happened. As he knows that Rana is telling the truth but still had a small disbelief inside a corner of his mind. 

Rana at some points understands Eman's thoughts and acts accordingly. As when he asks about the vehicle being parked away from the place where he had parked to find the culprit, She replies to it faster.

Social Conflicts 

This is the point where Eman is expressive about the environment in which he is leading his life. He thought it was pathetic conditions in which he is leading his life.

In the first scene itself, the social conditions in which they are living is shown by this image.

Changing the seat arrangement of girl students to the front and making the boy sit behind and then the Emad sitting with girl students becoming a talk in school simultaneously are the examples of the social conditions even in the middle class educated society.

Interpersonal conflicts 

After the incident, there is a subtle interpersonal conflict between Eman and Rana throughout. As Rana couldn't totally understand what Rana was going through. 

There is an interpersonal conflict between Eman and Babak during the play where Eman being in a delusion of Willy changes the dialogues and originally be harsh on Babak.

RANA

Rana is Emad's wife and a professional drama artist. She played the character of Linda in the play by Arthur Miller " Death of a Salesman ". She became a victim of the central conflict of  "a man becoming animal" in the movie.

Social conflicts 

It was the thought of the society which stopped both Eman and Rana to go for a police case after the incident. 

Rana was hesitant to explain everything to the police.

She was sure that she would be considered responsible for opening the door without looking who it is.

Neighborhood society making him afraid of the future conditions which are going to come after a police case. Hence she changes the car from the point it was parked. 

Internal conflicts 

She was afraid to stay alone in the house when her husband goes out. 

As she also played the character of Linda in the play and understood Willy from the drama. She asked her husband to leave the man (who tried to molest her) but Eman didn't do as she asked him to do.

Interpersonal conflicts 

When Emad doesn't understand her feelings and after insisting that she will join him wherever he is going, he refuses to take her. This creates an interpersonal conflict between Rana and Emad. 

MASTERWORK OF ASGHAR FARHADI 

I personally felt that the director is master in creating doubts about the character in the minds of an audience.

This scene is a master example of that 

This is the second time she is seen opening the door through the lock system. This time camera is totally covering her and the person on the other side of the door is not shown until the image of her looking back hearing the sound from the back which keeps us intriguing in the film and characters.

Boy painting like the child of previous tenant and other situations were helpful in creating that tension in the film.  

CARBON

The things which I understood from the movie Carbon was that, its not a tale of a man searching for wealth. But the inner transformation which the protagonist of the movie played by Fahad fazil goes through.

There are very few characters in the film and they all had prominence to their best. This story is maindly about the character Sibi and his travel both external and inner travel. 

As in my previous blogs I would take out the theme and then segment the characters accordingly.

Hereby the theme of the story according to me is : For achieving anything there should be lot which is to be sacrificed. 

Lighting experience in the set

Led Fresnel light

LG D300 

The smallest DMX controllable LED Fresnel on the market, the daylight-balanced Sola 4™ offers the controllability and light-shaping properties inherent in a Fresnel light at a small fraction of the power draw of conventional fixtures. Like the rest of Sola Series, Sola 4 provides Litepanels’ famous soft light quality.

4bank 2feet LED

4 feet 4 bank Led with grid cloth

•                                     
• High-quality 1/2-stop grid diffusion fabric
• For use with Scrim Jim Cine frame system
• Diffuse and direct 1' x 1' Flex LED mat
• Durable touch fastener lining
• Mounts instantly to Scrim Jim Cine 1' x 1' frame
• Superior fabric that will not alter color temperature
• Frame sold separately

Frames . Above: 216

Lower: Opal

Stands used for frames are called see _ stand

Flag

Jem ball with tungsten

We used chimera

12/12 grid cloth

We created artificial sunlight like this in our set with Led Fresnel light and orange filter 

A SEPARATION : A story travelling through Empathy

A Separation got the Academy Award for the Best foreign film in 2012. Recently I saw this movie and became so excited that I decided to share my feelings about the film through some medium. The commercial movie is the one which is capable of selling itself and in my opinion, if a movie is intriguing it should be commercial and this movie falls very much under that category.As I felt it as very intriguing in nature.

IT'S ABOUT THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR HELPLESSNESS 
This film can be one of the best examples where conflict is the hero.  The film starts with conflict between Simin and Nader in a family court before the judge. As Simin wanted to be separated from her husband because he is using the opportunity to go abroad as they had planned before. She believed that Termeh's future would be more secure abroad than in the prevailing conditions of Iran.  Even Nadar is in favor but wouldn't show it out due to his father who was suffering from Alzheimer's. As he couldn't leave his father in this conditions. The opening scene of this film is very rare and special because it reveals most of the character traits of both characters Simin and Naadar to an extent which drives the story throughout.

As Simin tends to move always towards secured environment for her and the family. Whereas Nadar has his stern decisions in which he doesn't consider anyone for opinion or feelings.

Some of the other scenes through which the character traits are shown which leads to conflict. 

This scene where Nadar asks his daughter to pump oil to the car and then have a rigorous conversation with the man to take back the usual tip which is given to them. As she had done the work the tip is paid by Nadar to Termeh. With a small smile, Termeh takes the money. In this scene, the character of  Nadar is completely portrayed and this is a very crucial scene to justify his behavior in the movie afterward.  The objective of Nadar was to make his daughter earn it and he wanted her to face problems, unlike her mother who shy's away from it.

Rajkumar Hirani - Films and The LCD principle

Rajkumar Hirani 

Rajkumar Hirani, A director, editor and screenwriter who gives something more than entertainment with total entertainment in the film. If some title to be given I would call him PlAYER OF EMOTIONS who could juggle the emotions of the audience and take them through a wonderful movie watching experience. There is at least one characteristic of a  child in all the protagonists of his films. For instance, In Munnabhai MBBS (Munna who is afraid of his father and sleeps on the lap of his mother), In 3 idiots ( Rancho who is excited and wondered to see everything around him like a child ), PK ( The PK who is metaphorically portrayed as a child asking lot of questions to the way society functions in the film) .

Overview

Rajkumar Hirani born in a middle-class family at Nagpur on 20th Nov 1962 helped his father in the typing institute during his college times. His father recognized his interest and suggested him to go to film school FTII. He joined in an editing course just to get entry inside the institute.  He also spent some time with his friends who were pursuing medicine and from there he got the idea of his first feature film MUNNABHAI MBBS which was a very great movie experience. Initially, the idea was that a gangster comes to the hospital with a headache and gets a lot of tests being done which make him realize that they are actually doing the same thing in a sophisticated way and also getting respect with money. Hence he decides to be a doctor. But then he felt that this was too harsh on doctors and script changed its shape. 

( References are taken from  his interviews and other articles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBLgcWf6h0o&t=67s for overview  )

LAUGH... CRY..... DRAMA(LCD) PRINCIPLE OF WRITING FILM 

This is the apt technique of writing for an Indian audience because we as Indians were always emotional people than being intellectual people at least while enjoying stories and loved the movies if it carried an emotion with you after leaving the theatre no matter even if it is melodramatic. Even our mythologies like Mahabharata or Ramayan have high drama in it.  I believe that every segment brings out their own taste according to the bringing up and the society which also influences cinema and there is no right or wrong cinema if there is a compelling story to tell and Rajkumar Hirani and his co-writer Abhijath Joshi spends most of their time in writing script than in shooting it. They ensured that every scene in their movie should have either Laugh or cry or drama.

Let us see whether the movie 3 idiots portray these three emotions scene by scene or not.

3 IDIOTS AND THE LCD

screenplay was written by 

Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijath Joshi  

                                     (Abhijath Joshi on the left and Rajkumar Hirani on the right )

3 IDIOTS

Madhavan gets a call inside the airplane and something mysterious thing is being told from the other side of the phone. The plane takes off and Madhavan falls down holding his heart which leads to the shot of pilot stating emergency landing.
DRAMA

With the doctor and other amenities, they take Madhavan to the hospital and in the way he opens his eyes and runs away getting up from the stretcher. This, in a humorous way, makes us realize that actually Madhavan actually acted as if he is having the heart attack.
LAUGHTER

Then the sequence of him taking a cab which is waiting for someone else by misguiding the driver takes to  Vasanth Vihar to pick his friend up which is also taken in a humorous way as it ends with Raju character played by Sharman Joshi coming out forgetting to wear pants. In this scene, there is a lot of revelation done with a fun element and humor and a curiosity in it. Like when Madhavan calls Raju we know the character's name is Farhan for the first time and that Ranjo is a common friend of both or more than just a friend. As Raju couldn't even remember to wear his pants in the excitement. One more character of Chatur aka Silencer is mentioned in the conversation.

LAUGHTER

Chatur creates a smile from his strange way of speaking Hindi and through conversations like" meri wife ko nahi idiots uske pichekke bangle ko dekho" showing his property and car to both Farhan and Raju. This conversation reveals that Chatur knows where is Rancho and they go on a mission of finding Rancho is where the flashback starts. Even the conversation is taken in a humorous way.

LAUGHTER

As it's in the nature of Rajkumar Hirani movies to have more of humor element in it. Even in flashback, there are scenes such as the introduction speech of Virus which starts with drama and ends in humor with a question from Rancho and the raging scene which is mostly humor or the classroom scene in which definition of machine is asked to Racho (humor). 

After a long sequence of LAUGHTER, there is a full-fledged scene which had drama ie the conversation scene of Lobo and Virus about the science project delay and his termination from the college.

DRAMA

Some of the Cries

Scenes from PK

Scenes from Munnabhai Mbbs

OTHER EMOTIONAL SCENES WITH A SMILE ON FACE