I’m not a movie freak, but I love good movies like anyone else. Going to cinema halls is an interesting experience. You sit with the screen and its people for two hours and then return home to live with the same characters that night.
Hero - Chinese Movie
Once upon a time, a movie’s influence used to stay on for one or two days with me before fading away. But these days, you come out of the cinema hall and you’re a different person all together. Nothing of what happened inside that dark closed space happens outside it. It is almost like you live the movie, play your part (when you’re inside the theater), and cast off everything when you come out.
I think movies stop influencing you as you age. When I was a child, we used to watch movies in a nearby, at-a-walkable-distance theater and I used to live the movie for the next 2 or 3 days.
When we walked home from the theater, I would be a reflection of what I saw on screen. If it was a horror movie, I would be afraid. Every dark corner would threaten with some unknown, invisible, dangerous creature. If it was a sentimental flick, I would be on resolution-mode, making resolutions on how to act from then on, things like how to not behave badly to others, how to love others, would crowd my mind. If it was action, there would be a jumpiness in my gait, alertness in my eyes. I would look around with courage and confidence, ready to attack any rogue hiding behind trees and walls. My steps would be swift and sturdy, like a battalion marching.
Movies ruled my hormones and monopolized my thoughts for about a day. By the end of the next day, routine life settled in. Normalcy returned. No more action. No more swaying swords or handling guns. No more non-resistance. Or infinite love. Just plain me. Me before the movie. It is then that-is-movie-this-is-life thought shows up. You realize you had been to a MOVIE.
Speculations apart, I do love movies. Not the mass crap type. But the singled-out, intellectual types. The gorgeous, artistic types. Movies that are of epic proportions. Poetic and out-of-the-ordinary. Such movies have tremendous power over me. They brighten me from any gloom and completely turn the downside up. A few such favorites:
Hero: My all-time favorite. I watch and keep watching this Chinese movie. Directed by Zhang Yimou, this movie has Jet Li as its hero backed by a stunning cast. What I like most is the flick’s artistic splendor, majestic setting and epic-like action. Names of characters read like poems – Sky, Broken Sword, Flying Snow, Nameless. Every single frame of the movie is artistic and picture-postcard like. Must-see if you love art and photography. Here’s more information about the movie. Take a look at the photo gallery too.
Hero Movie
Hero Movie - Flying Snow
Hero - Fight Scene
Vanaprastham: Malayalam movie directed by Shaji Karun starring Mohanlal and Suhasini. A rhapsody of art, culture and tradition. I have this intense love for Kerala traditions. Their dance-drama Kathakali is my favorite. I’ve had sleepless, high-intensity-artistic nights after watching Kathakali performance on TV or YouTube. Painted faces. Red costumes. Decked dancers. Playing hands. Dancing eyes. If Bharatanatyam is all about grace, Kathakali is all about radicalism. The dance is so artistic that you cannot sleep after a performance. In Vanaprastham, the hero is a Kathakali dancer who is loved by a married princess. She loves his role of Arjuna (a mythical character) in Kathakali performances. The princess’ craze for the ‘Arjuna’ in the hero drives her to have a child by him. Problems arise leading to the hero’s last dance. Read more here.
Vanaprastham
The Devil Wear Prada: Another hot favorite. This is for the fashionista in me. I love Meryl Streep’s role as Miranda Priestly, editor of number one fashion magazine Runway. The movie is an adaptation of a novel which is an inspiration from the life of Vogue magazine’s editor Anna Wintour. Miranda wields control over everyone in the world of high heels and hot couture. She decides what is to stay and what is to be dumped. Anne Hathaway plays Meryl’s coy, not-so-street-smart secretary. Terrific movie if you love women and fashion. Read more here.
The Devil Wears Prada
The Devil Wears Prada - Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway
I have other movies to my list. Will publish them soon. Thanks for reading.
Lovely post!