Trivia Post 26

 I am adding some trivia posts for the last few weeks. 

1. An observation on Chaiyya Chaiyya.

2. The blood on the faces in Vishal Bhardwaj's three Shakespeare plays-based films—Maqbool, Omkara, and Haider.

3. Kohl in the eyes:

a) "Woh surme ki tarah meri, aankhon mein hi rehti hai." — Khudaya Khair, Billu

b) "Jaise saath saath chanda ke hai raat,

jitne paas nainon ke kajal,

jitne paas paas sagar ke lehar,

utne paas tu rehna humsafar." — Mere Haath Mein, Fanaa

4. The ordering of food without knowing what it is seen in Vikas Behl's Queen and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

5. Lying down on the floor in Mani Ratnams' films—Alaipayuthey, Iruvar, Katru Veliyidai, and Yuva.

6. Farrukh Jaffar passed away recently. She is seen here in Muzaffar Ali's Umrao Jaan (1981).

7. Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om starts with a tribute to Subhash Ghai's Karz. The film also ends with the story-in-a-song sequence similar to the one in Karz.

8. The shop in Abhishek Chaubey's Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa from Ray is named Rooh Safa which means soul cleanse, aptly named where people went to return the items they stole.

 

9. Sanjay Leela Bhansali gave a brief promotional interview for Heeramandi. He talked about his love for the movies and how he would look at the particles floating in the projector beam. I was thinking of the scene from Bajirao Mastani where Kashibai (Priyanka Chopra) projects the image of Bajirao (Ranveer Singh) image on the curtains at their palace.

10. In Aditya Chopra's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Taani (Anushka Sharma) and Suri (Shah Rukh Khan) go to watch a movie. Taani is bored so suddenly she sees Suri's alter-ego Raj telling her that he will show her the romance through the style of Hindi films. Then, we see the song Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte with tributes to Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, and Rishi Kapoor. The thing to note is that the song does not feature action heroes Amitabh Bachchan or Dharmendra as this is a song for the romantic hero. The other thing to note is that this song is part of Taani's imagination where she sees the romantic heroes. It is only fitting that then the song is filmed on the romantic hero who is next in line—Shah Rukh Khan. As Raj also said that he learned about love from the Gods of love, the song has the actors known for their romantic roles. "Har janam mein, rang badal ke, khwabon ke pardon pe hum khil ke."

11. Aditya (Shahid Kapoor) in Imtiaz Ali's Jab We Met and Meera (Katrina Kaif) in Yash Chopra's Jab Tak Hai Jaanmend the relationship with their respective mothers after they fall in love. It is their own love life that helps them understand the love life of their mothers.

 

12. When I try to remember films, some of their little scenes come back to me. In Ritesh Batra's The Lunchbox, there is a little girl who stays opposite the house of Saajan Fernandes (Irrfan Khan). Early in the film, Saajan refused to give the ball to her and the other kids playing. In the night, Saajan could see the girl's house from his balcony. Initially, she shuts the window from her side at the beginning of the film when she sees him. During the midpoint, the scene comes again but the window is now half-open. Finally, in the end, she lets the window remain open and even waves hello to Saajan Fernandes. The window became a symbol for the change in the relationship between the two.

13. Three beautiful Raanjha songs.
a) Raanjha from Vishnuvardhan's Shershaah.
b) Raanjha Raanjha from Mani Ratnam's Raavan.
c) Raanjha from Vikas Behl's Queen.

 

14. The disclaimer in Abhishek Chaubey's Ishqiya.

15. The flower walk by Krishna (Vidya Balan) in Ishqiya.

16. Life lessons from Dr. Jahangir 'Jug' Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) in Gauri Shinde's Dear Zindagi.

17. Of chances, and feeling something is wrong in Imtiaz Ali's Jab We Met and Highway.

18. There is a moment in Maneesh Sharma's Fan when Gaurav's father (Yogendra Tikku) says that he won't give him money to meet Aryan. Gaurav (Shah Rukh Khan) says to his father that when he goes to the temple every week by changing four buses and donates one hundred and one rupees every time, isn't that, too, a time waste? His mother (Deepika Amin) says that Hanuman is God. For Gaurav, Aryan (Shah Rukh Khan) is the most important. This is shown in Sajid Ali's Laila Majnu, too. Some men beat up Qais (Avinash Tiwary) while they were praying. Qais asks them if he was talking to his lover whom he cannot see, were not they also talking to their God whom they cannot see? In both scenes, lover compares their beloved to an invisible deity.

19. Choosing the lesser of two evils in Kunak Kohli's Fanaa and Ravi Udyawar's Mom.

20. Ayan Mukerji's special appearances in Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Zoya Akhtar's Luck By Chance, and his own Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.

21. The poster of Raj Kapoor's Sangam shows: Ageless as Asia with the Taj Mahal; Exciting as Europe with the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower, and the Big Ben. Another version has Sanchi Stupa instead of the Taj Mahal.

22. Heers become someone else in songs:
a) "Heer Heer na akho adiyo, main te Sahiban hoi." — Heer, Jab Tak Hai Jaan
"Don't call me Heer, I've become Sahibaan."
b) "Raanjha Raanjha saddo ni mainu Heer na aakho koyi." — Raanjha Raanjha, Raavan
"Call me Raanjha now, don't call me Heer anymore."

23. In Vikas Behl's Queen, Dadi (Tripta Lakhanpal) tells Rani (Kangana Ranaut) that she might think that her life ender after Vijay calls off the wedding. Later, she will only come and say that it was for the best. Indeed. That is why we see that she went and thanked Vijay in the end. Otherwise, her life would be have been so different.

24. The ending credits of Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades have many famous people who have now made it big. Kiran Rao. Ayan Mukerji is a clapper boy and also a writer. Karan Malhotra who directed Agneepath) and Danish Aslam who directed Break Ke Baad are also mentioned. I put this on Twitter and got responses from other people as well. More on those people here.

25. The parallels in Aziz Mirza's Chalte Chalte and Vivek Soni's Meenakshi Sundareshwar.

26. The different ending of Vikramaditya Motwane's Lootera as mentioned in its script. I put it on Instagram and he responded that he had shot it as well.

27. The same guy, who had asked Murad to leave, welcomes him to the club later in Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy.

For more trivia, follow me on @ReadingFilms on Instagram.

Other Reading:

1) Trivia Post 25—Link

2) Trivia Post 24—Link
3) Trivia Post 23—Link
4) Trivia Post 22—Link
5) Trivia Post 21—Link

Dialogue of the Day:
"Kalli bheed chh baithi,

Teri peed le baaithi,
Russeya Raanjha ve mera,
Me ve kamm ni aithi."
—Ranjha, Shershaah

The Insurmountable Distance of Shiddat

Kunal Deshmukh's Shiddat opens with a wedding reception where the groom Gautam (Mohit Raina) talks about Rooh Maska, an heirloom ring that guides a lover to his dreamgirl. He gives it to his wife Ira (Diana Penty) and tells her that he would have found her in any corner of the world. She is his kismat—his destiny. A wedding crasher Joginder, also known as Jaggi (Sunny Kaushal), gets so inspired by the speech that he risks his life to find the love of his life Kartika (Radhika Madan). He takes the journey across the land, the sea, and the air and makes every effort possible to be with her.

Shiddat is, essentially, about how far someone can travel for love. It is about the distance that one has to travel to find their love. Jaggi is detained in France while trying to sneak in a truck to England. The Indian government officer assigned to identify him turns out to be Gautam. Jaggi has a habit of coming uninvited to places, remarks Gautam. Jaggi tells him that the words that he had spoken at his own wedding became his talisman in life to find Kartika. His visa application to England was rejected, and he had no other option but to take the illegal route. He then adds, "Ek hi haath ki toh doori hai." In a beautiful moment, he puts his hand on the map of the world, covering the distance between India and England. The physical distance does not matter to Jaggi. A distance of six thousand kilometers is equivalent to the distance between the fingers of his hand. And, he will make every effort to cross that distance, even if it means risking his life in the process. Moments later, Gautam drives Jaggi to his home. On the way, they see the English Channel. "Paaji, woh wahaan kya hai," asks Jaggi. "Darya hai, aur kya," replies Gautam. Across the darya lay the town of Dover in England. A fascinated Jaggi gets down from the car and measures the distance across the sea with his thumb, like the earlier moment where he used his hand. "Angoothe ki doori bachi hai," he says. It's just a thumb's distance away now for him. Twenty miles in the sea are nothing for him, again underscoring that physical distance for him is never insurmountable. Later in the film, Jaggi invokes the legend of Sohni-Mahiwal where Sohni goes swimming across Chenab every night to meet her lover Mahiwal. Jaggi will also try to swim across the English Channel to meet Kartika.

At the other end lies Kartika. She, too, has to cover the distance, but it is the emotional distance from her mind to her heart. She needs to make up her mind and cancel her wedding. She needs to decide if she wants to live a life for her family or a life of her own. She needs to choose if she is a realist or a romantic. For her, walking the final ten steps are as hard as Jaggi's 10,000 steps.

Then, there is the other couple, Gautam and Ira, in whose story, too, the film keeps reinforcing the theme of distance. They got married. They moved to France. He is an officer of the Indian government, while she is an activist. Differences crop up between them. She sees red, green, violet, and blacks, but he only sees blue. During their fight, she tells him, "I love you, too, Gautam, but I don't like you anymore. I just don't like you anymore." She moves out and files for divorce. But Gautam does not do anything to placate Ira. He does not try to sort out the issues that came up between them. While Jaggi takes the journey across continents for love, Gautam does not even travel forty feet. Now, Jaggi becomes the one who inspires Gautam to fight for his love. "Sarhadein toh hum dono ko hi paar karni hai. Safar toh dono ka hi lamba hai," he tells him when he escapes again. We both have to cross some borders. We both have a long way ahead of us. The theme of distance is also mentioned in the film's title track. "Kyun yeh hadein hain, kyun yeh sarhadein hain, itne kyun hai faasle, manzil teri meri jab ek hai toh, kyun hai alag raaste." Why are we bound by limitations? Why are we restricted by boundaries? Why do we have so much distance between us? When our destination is the same then why are our paths different?

Early in the film, Kartika mentions Shah Rukh Khan and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, where she says that she will cancel her wedding in "DDLJ-style" if Jaggi still feels love for her. I kept wondering if there is a theme of Shah Rukh Khan associated with the film. In Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Raj travels from England to India while it is the reverse direction here. The film's title is taken from another famous dialogue from one of Shah Rukh Khan's films Om Shanti Om, which Jaggi also says, "Kehte hain kisi cheez ko agar shiddat se chaho, toh saari kaynaat use tumse milane me lag jaati hai." Then, at some other point, Jaggi mentions to Gautam that he has become Devdas. The scenes between Gautam and Ira are a bit reminiscent of Chalte Chalte and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna.

Sunny Kaushal makes the film eminently watchable. I loved the scene when Jaggi goes to buy the yellow dress for Kartika. The owner asks for the size that he is looking to buy. Jaggi calls Kartika, but her cellphone's battery runs out. Left with no option, Jaggi imagines her in his arms and comes up with her measurements. It was also how he has fallen in love with her in his imagination with no actual confirmation from Kartika. Seeing this, Gautam starts missing Ira. He goes to the place where she works and takes food from there. I wish there was more of the story of Gautam and Ira. I find films about conflicts between married couples to be fascinating. Radhika Madan is miscast, or maybe it was her character, as we never saw that passion in her. There is more camaraderie between Jaggi and Gautam. 

In his quest for love, Jaggi behaves irresponsibly all the time. He thought he could cross the freezing sea on his own without any help. He does not realize that even Sohni had used an earthen pot for swimming across the Chenab when she went to meet Mahiwal. He falls from a plane, which is disturbing as it almost mirrored some real-life scenes from the events in Afghanistan. He used to say, "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall." His death, too, comes from a great fall. At every stage of his journey, he got lucky. But, after a point, even the kaynaat stopped helping him. The Rooh Maska ring did not lead him to his dreamgirl. He did not have in his destiny to watch the moon with his beloved. Love does not have to be rational or logical all the time, but it also does not have to be foolish all the time.

Trivia:

1) "I love you so much I just don't like you anymore," was first spoken in One Day.

2) The background score of the film kept reminding me of the song Kabhi Jo Badal Barse from Jackpot.

Dialogue of the Day:

"I love you end tak, interval tak nahi."
—Jaggi, Shiddat

The Namesake—Immigrants Through Time

Some things in life start making more sense once we grow up. When I was in school, I read Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies. Since then, she has been one of my favorite authors. Her stories are brimming with solitude and melancholy. "Something happened when the house was dark. They were able to talk to each other again," she writes in the story A Temporary Matter about a couple dealing with the loss of their child. I liked her stories earlier, but at this age in my thirties, when I am in a different stage of life, I can understand and connect with them a little better. It is why I have been re-reading and re-watching The Namesake. It is profoundly moving, not in a cathartic way, but more in the sense of leaving a tiny lump in the throat, making me think about life itself.

The Namesake is directed by Mira Nair with the screenplay adapted by Sooni Taraporevala from Jhumpa Lahiri's debut novel. It is about the Gangulis, a Bengali immigrant family living in the US, and their lives across a span of decades. The family comprises Ashoke (Irrfan Khan), his wife Ashima (Tabu), and their two kids, Gogol (Kal Penn) and Sonia (Sahira Nair). Once on the train, a young Ashoke meets a fellow traveler Mr. Ghosh (Jagannath Guha), who tells him that he is young and free. Therefore, he should pack a pillow and travel the world. He will never regret it. An accident ensues in which Ashoke almost dies. He is saved when someone identifies him by the fluttering page of The Overcoat by Russian author Nikolai Gogol. After the accident, Ashoke envisions a life for him abroad in the US. He marries Ashima, has two kids, and becomes a professor. He builds a life in the West while maintaining his connection with the East.

Books and names play a unique role in The Namesake. Ashoke names his son Gogol after the Russian author's book miraculously saved him. But once his son grows up, he prefers to keep his other name Nikhil as he is embarrassed by Gogol. Nikhil is also similar to the first name of the author Nikolai. Nikhil Ganguly. Nikolai Gogol. It reminds me of Imtiaz Ali's Tamasha where the old storyteller had said, "Brahma hai ya Ibrahim, Moses hai ya Musa, Hindu hai ya Indus, Jesus hai ya Isa, Jamuna hai ya Yamuna." It does not matter, as all stories have the same underlying elements. Likewise, there is Ashoke, who forged a connection with his favorite author. Like Nikolai Gogol, Ashoke, too, had spent most of his life outside his home. Ashoke gifts a copy of the collected short stories of Nikolai Gogol to his son Gogol on one of his birthdays. He writes a message for him, "The man who gave you his name, from the man who gave your name." One day, he would understand its significance that we all came from Gogol's overcoat. While a young Gogol does not get all the fuss, an older Gogol understands it later. He reads the book and follows his father's advice. Pack a pillow and blanket. Go, see the world. You will never regret it, Gogol. It is the same feeling I get when I read The Namesake now. I understand the book and the film's emotions much better.

The Namesake is also the love story of Ashoke and Ashima, where many of us can find the stories of our parents in theirs. In the first meeting, Ashoke and Ashima sit opposite each other, but their parents do all the talking. When Ashima enters the room, Ashoke tries to steal a glance at her but keeps his eyes down. After some pleasantries, Ashok's father probes Ashima if she understands that she will be going away to a far-off land where she will be alone. Ashima replies that "Won't he be there?" It is then that he looks up towards her and smiles. The story of Ashima and Ashoke is made up of these quiet and beautiful moments. In another lovely scene, Ashoke shows Ashima the way to the fish market when they move to the US. She replies, what if she got lost. And, Ashoke casually replies, "You think I'd let you get lost." These expressions display their love and affection as physical affection does not come easy to them. When they go visit the Taj Mahal, Ashoke holds Ashima's hands. Moments later, Gogol comes to chat with them, and Ashoke quietly lets go of Ashima's hands, feeling shy in front of his son. When Gogol invites his girlfriend Maxine (Jacinda Barrett) to his parent's house, he warns her with no touching and no kissing. However, Maxine does not bother. She even gives a peck on the cheek to Ashoke and Ashima, leaving them flustered. At another moment, when Ashoke is in the security line for his flight to Cleveland, he keeps glancing and smiling at her. Before he leaves, he waves his head that he is going. These tiny moments with the beautiful background music accentuate the film's longevity in my mind.

Jhumpa Lahiri's entire oeuvre comprises themes of loneliness and solitude. In The Lowland, she writes, "Isolation offered its own form of companionship: the reliable silence of her rooms, the steadfast tranquility of the evenings. The promise that she would find things where she put them, that there would be no interruption, no surprise. It greeted her at the end of each day and lay still with her at night." In Whereabouts, she writes, "Solitude: it's become my trade. As it requires a certain discipline, it's a condition I try to perfect." In The Namesake as well, the feeling of loneliness can be felt throughout the book and the film. Early in the book, Lahiri writes about the time when Gogol is born. "As she [Ashima] strokes and suckles and studies her son, she can't help but pity him. She has never known of a person entering the world so alone, so deprived." She also says to Ashoke that she does not want to raise her son in this lonely country. Before Ashoke moves to Ohio, he asks Ashima to come along as she will be alone for the first time in her life. But she tells him that she will manage. After he passes away, Ashima tells her friend at the library that she realized why Ashoke went to Cleveland. He was teaching her how to live alone. Even the poem Ashima recited when Ashoke met her is about loneliness, "I wandered lonely as a cloud."

The snow and the cold evoke an intense feeling of loneliness. After Ashima and Ashoke's wedding, they move to the US. In their apartment, a newly married Ashima feels visibly cold and drapes a shawl. She wonders about the presence of her husband, who then enters the room. Later, when she hears about Ashoke's death, Ashima feels extremely cold in a scene reminiscent of the earlier one. She walks all over the house as if looking for something. Ashima moves out of the garage and is left standing in the cold. Her Ashoke is no longer there in her life. His warmth is no longer there in her life.

The Namesake also uses the symbolism of shoes. The book has a lot more passages on shoes, but we see a few in the film. In her first meeting with Ashoke, Ashima sees a pair of brown shoes that belong to him. She puts them on and walks a few steps in them. It is a sign of the way she will step in his shoes and become his life partner. In the book, Lahiri writes, "Ashima, unable to resist a sudden and overwhelming urge, stepped into the shoes at her feet. Lingering sweat from the owner's feet mingled with hers, causing her heart to race; it was the closest thing she had ever experienced to the touch of a man. The leather was creased, heavy, and still warm." When Ashoke asks her why Ashima decides to marry him, she replies that she liked his shoes. Later in the film, Gogol goes to Cleveland to bring back his father's body after he passes away. He enters his father's room and steps in his shoes, reminiscent of the earlier scene with his mother in the film. Now, he is stepping in his father's shoes, becoming the son that he never was. When Ashoke's father passed away, he had shaved his head while a young Gogol watched him. Now, it is the turn of Gogol where he tonsures his head after the death of his father. Life has come a full circle.

Tabu and Irrfan are brilliant in their roles of Ashima and Ashoke. A favorite word of mine is grace, and there is genuinely abundant grace in their performances. It is hard to believe that they are acting. The greys fit perfectly on them. Irrfan is excellent in the scene when he explains to Gogol the reason behind his name. Every day since the accident has been a gift, he says. Tabu shines in the scene when she gives the speech before she leaves for India again. It is their silence that makes The Namesake one of the best performances for both of them.

The Namesake is about transcending boundaries of geography and culture. Like Mr. Ghosh, Ashima's grandmother advises her to embrace the new and not forget the old. Even her name Ashima means limitless, someone without borders, explains her daughter-in-law Moushumi (Zuleikha Robinson). The Namesake makes us think about where is home. It makes us ask questions as to where one really belongs. It is a question that we all deal with at some point in life. Before Ashima leaves for India, she speaks movingly about her life. She says that when she came to the US, she missed her life in India. When she is moving back to India, she will miss her life in the US. People. Friendships. It was the place where she learned to know and love her husband.

It is so relatable to anyone who has moved across countries or cities. When I am in my present city, I miss moments of life in India, the festivals, the vibe, the functions. When I am in India, I start missing the quietness of life in the US. For the last two years, I have been in another country outside the US. Before I moved there, I was nervous about the life ahead, whether I would survive or not. When I got there, I missed my life before I moved. I started comparing everything between the two places. I have come back now, and I now miss the life in that country. I miss my friends. I miss the place. I keep wondering what if I stayed there longer. The heart keeps feeling restless. I struggle to call any place home now. I wish I had a sense of belonging. Maybe we leave behind a little part of ourselves in the different places we live. Like Ashima says, that even though Ashoke's ashes are scattered in the Ganges, it was here in the house, in the town, amongst the people that he will continue to dwell in her heart. I guess we belong everywhere, and we belong nowhere.

The movie ends with a credit that reads, "For our parents who gave us everything." Mira Nair said that she made the film after the death of her mother-in-law, who died in a different country. In the film, Ashoke gets a call where he learns that Ashima's father has passed away. Ashima learns about it a few hours later. After some time, Ashoke's father also dies. In the book, Lahiri writes, "In some senses, Ashoke and Ashima live the lives of the extremely aged, those for whom everyone they once knew and loved is lost, those who survive and are consoled by memory alone. Even those family members who continue to live seem dead somehow, always invisible, impossible to touch. Voices on the phone, occasionally bearing news of births and weddings, send chills down their spines. How could it be, still alive, still talking?" It is so beautifully written, but it makes me think of living a life without our parents. The guilt of not being there never goes away. Is it abandonment? But is it wrong to have a life of your own without them? When Ashoke left for studies, his mother refused to eat for three days. Again the circle of life has been completed. His own children are moving out the way he did.

In the novel Exit West, Mohsin Hamid writes about the thoughts of an old woman in Palo Alto who has spent her entire life living in the same house in the same city. However, the woman still feels that she is a migrant. While she stays the same, it is the city that changes around her. The priorities she grows up with don't match those of her children, as seen by their desire to sell her house for a considerable sum of money while she has no interest in the money. The culture and the people around her changed. Hamid writes, "We are all migrants through time." In today's world, we, too, are all immigrants in some way or the other. A bit of everything changes daily. We become a little bit old daily. On some days, I feel so left behind in life while the world is moving ahead. The Namesake provides a glimpse into those changing worlds—of culture, of geography, and also of time.

Trivia:

1) Jhumpa Lahiri in The Namesake.

Books In Movies:

1) Moushumi reads Armance by Stendahl which was the same book that Oliver read in Call Me By Your Name.

2) Ashoke reads The Village of Stepanchikovo by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Dialogue of the Day:

"Remember that you and I made this journey and went together to a place where there was nowhere left to go."

—Ashoke, The Namesake