Spoilers ahead…
Bollywood seems to have taken a shine to planes this year. First, Airlift. Now, Neerja. But that isn’t the only similarity between the films. Both are a new kind of Bollywood movie, closer to Hollywood in terms of tone (refined) and treatment (slick). They get box-office assurance from the star at the centre (Akshay Kumar there, Sonam Kapoor here), but the faces around them are mostly unfamiliar and come with no baggage, leaving the impression that we’re watching something… real. I don’t want to oversell this aspect of these films, but it makes a difference when we’re watching the secondary parts being played by (relative) unknowns as opposed to say, Jimmy Shergill. (The only other big name in Neerja is Shabana Azmi.) This adds to the docu-fiction feel director Ram Madhvani is going for, which is the opposite end of the spectrum from a disaster movie like The Burning Train, with stars in every compartment. (That, of course, is its own kind of fun.)
This quasi-realistic approach revitalises the material, which is classic Indian melodrama. Neerja is a heroine not just because of what she did on that plane (she was Head Purser), but because the character is “built up” in the manner of a hero, The Chosen One. Her birth is portentous. Her mother had two sons and prayed for a daughter – she’s a gift from the gods, and gods’ gifts don’t last very long. Her attitude is portentous. She’s a fan of Anand, and her favourite line is “Zindagi badi honi chahiye, lambi nahin.” The happenings around her are portentous. The ring that her mother had made (for her safety) goes missing the day of the ill-fated flight, and just as terrorists (affiliated to the Abu Nidal group) take over, the mother back home feels something, as though the universe were sending a sign. And note the teary subplot about the yellow salwaar kameez, a birthday present. (Neerja Bhanot died two days before her 23rd birthday, but the film nudges the date a little closer to her death, so there’s an added sense of tragedy: She didn’t just die young, she died on her birthday.) Note, also, the advertising hoarding at the traffic light where Neerja and the man who likes her (Shekhar Ravjiani) stop. It’s for bridal wear. Not only did she die young, not only did she die on her birthday, she died just when she found a man who wanted to marry her.
On the flight too, after the hijack (as one of the terrorists, Jim Sarbh is superb, an explosive waiting to explode), Neerja is the only one who can function, the only one with pluck. She stands up to the terrorists. The others cower in fear, looking to her for support and direction. I don’t know how much of this is real and how much is embellishment, but that isn’t the point – the point is that all of this adds up to a grand hero-narrative. But the usual macho bluster isn’t there because Neerja is a woman. Madhvani keeps cutting to her past with an insecure, chauvinistic pig of a husband who wanted a servant, not a wife. (Even these cuts are classic Bollywood. The transition from, say, someone rapping on a door in the present to a similar action in the past, is reminiscent of the structure of films like Aandhi, where specific actions and sounds triggered specific memories.) So we know Neerja had to suffer in a situation unique to woman, and yet, later, she doesn’t play the woman card when one of the terrorists feels her up roughly to make sure she is unarmed. Another kind of film would have zoomed in on her shame to deepen our sympathies, but Neerja knows just how much to push, just how much is enough.
In other words, films like Airlift and Neerja don’t shy away from the emotional maximalism of Bollywood. (There’s actually a scene where the family dog howls by the door.) They use a lot of what makes Bollywood work for a large audiences – but temper these ingredients to cater to the tastes of smaller audiences in the big cities. They’re Bollywood films for people who like their chaat but won’t visit a street vendor. They’d rather be in a nice, air-conditioned restaurant. Same food, different setting. I must say I like this approach. Because earlier, the only two kinds of films we made were street food or Cordon Bleu, masala or high art. Now, we have this… middle-cinema, if you want to call it that, melodramatic content made palatable by a sedate documentary-like style – with hand-held cameras, more silence than background music. The film observes the most horrifying events (a grandmother weeping over a dead grandson, a husband mourning the pregnant wife who’s been shot, or even Neerja’s distraught mother seeing other mothers walk their daughters home from school) with a cool, calm gaze. And this holding back helps, because when it’s time to cry, the dam bursts and we really cry.
Sonam Kapoor is pretty good, but she still cannot make the heavier scenes work – like the one in which she’s forced to sing in front of the passengers. (Her best performance is still the one as the child-woman of Aisha. I get the feeling that was all her.) The deficiencies are heightened by the presence of a genuine dramatic heavyweight like Shabana Azmi, whose motherliness is magnificent – the character comes across as a giant bosom you want to bury your head in and weep your worries away. I watched her final speech through a thick film of tears. It’s a terrific example of how to deliver a message but not make the audience feel they’re listening to a message. Even as she repeats Imam Saab’s Sholay line about there being no greater pain than that of a child’s loss (but with less melodrama, more understatement), she marvels that this girl had it in her to be so brave. Neerja makes us see what a lovely person Neerja was, beyond the heroine she became. She was genuinely nice, principled, life-loving – and all this is emphasised in the opening stretch where the film keeps cutting between celebrations at Neerja’s housing society and preparations by the terrorists, between crowds and loners, between sunshine and darkness, between a Pomeranian with sunglasses and men with bullets and bombs, between life and death.
Neerja carries a special resonance for those who were around in the eighties, when Pan Am seemed to be jinxed – hijacked at Karachi, bombed over Lockerbie. I enjoyed the (sometimes neon-lit) evoking of the era’s memorabilia – the ubiquitous vanity case, cassettes that needed to be spooled with pencils, even Giani Zail Singh. But the detail that killed me was the Mills & Boon by Neerja’s bedside. I don’t know if girls today still read these romances, but the book conjures up so many things – libraries in middle-class neighbourhoods, at least a little bit of naiveté, a hope that things will always turn out okay even if the world is against you, a phase in life where you can still while time away without guilting yourself that you aren’t reading something heavier, better, more useful. That was the stage Neerja was at when she died, regaining hope and faith and self-confidence after a lousy marriage. Neerja is a fine tribute to a woman whose wings were clipped just as she was beginning to fly.
KEY:
- Airlift = see here
- The Burning Train = see here
- “Zindagi badi honi chahiye, lambi nahin” = Life should be big, not long. A line from Anand.
- Aandhi = see here
- chaat = see here
- Aisha = see here
- Sholay = see here; and here
Copyright ©2016 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Saurabh
March 6, 2016
Brangan: Neerja is a fine tribute to a woman whose wings were clipped just as she was beginning to fly.
Really? Films like Neerja, Airlift etc constantly undermine/belittle the achievements of these people by resorting to cliched masala setups/tropes. It is obvious that the director does not rank the “work” done by these people as worthy enough to hold audience’s attention and hence distorts it beyond recognition by resorting to all possible masala tropes. Or he does not have enough creativity to pull off anything except tried and tested masala crap.
Brangan: Because earlier, the only two kinds of films we made were street food or Cordon Bleu, masala or high art. Now, we have this… middle-cinema, if you want to call it that, melodramatic content made palatable by a sedate documentary-like style – with hand-held cameras, more silence than background music.
I don’t know. Sometimes you just say random stuff. Which earlier times are you talking about? I think Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Sai Paranjape, Both Basu’s etc they all used to make middle of the road cinema. No? And they were not just a stupid re-hashing of masala cinema to cater to the sensibilities of smaller audiences in big cities. And by the way, what kind of sensibility is that? Is it – ” I like masala movies but won’t admit to it because I want to show taste”? And which were these high art cinema according to you? Films by Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalanai etc?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rakesh
March 6, 2016
Shekar Ravjiani.. One half of the composing duo Vishal-Shekar ?
LikeLike
doctorhari
March 6, 2016
As always, a very well-written and insightful review to what I felt was a beautiful movie. I am really feeling a bit jealous about these Hindi heroines. What wonderful roles they get to play.
LikeLike
Madan
March 6, 2016
I must have watched a different film because I did not find much melodrama in the classic Hindi cinema sense of the word. Maybe Shabana’s long speech at the end was the only sequence that felt very filmi to me.
On running through the sequence of the real events on the net, I found that the film was surprisingly faithful, esp by Bolly standards, to reality. I don’t want to play spoiler (nevermind that the film has already had a long run at the BO) but the tactics used by Neerja as shown in the film were what the real Neerja also used. I find this astonishing especially because our filmmakers have rarely shown the guts to stick to what happened and find it necessary to embellish the facts until the film bears no resemblance to reality. But that is not what was done here, at least I didn’t think so.
I happened to watch The Insider just a day before I watched Neerja and as great as that film was, it was a complete distortion which all but succeeded in turning Bergman into the real hero just so that it would be a vehicle for Michael Mann’s buddy Al Pacino. Funny I did not find too much quibbling about that aspect of the film but there are comments like Saurabh’s above which complain of the distortion in Neerja. I thought Madhvani was pretty brave to shoot the film the way he did, such that it transferred the claustrophobia of being marooned inside an aeroplane for 18 hours to the audience. It’s fortunate that it worked but he couldn’t have been certain that it would have going by the Indian audience’s ‘conventional’ preferences and some people did get back to me saying it was rather heavy. Neerja is a rare Bollywood film made in service of the story it set out to tell rather than in service of pure unadulterated entertainment. Hats off to Madhvani as well as scriptwriter Saiwyn Quadras for their conviction. I haven’t watched Airlift and I don’t know to what extent it is similar to Airlift but at least Trissha Gupta wrote today in Mumbai Mirror to say the two films are very different. It was quite a great write up by the way.
LikeLiked by 2 people
P
March 6, 2016
I grew up in the fag end of the 90s, but yeah, we did read Mills and Boons 🙂
“But the detail that killed me was the Mills & Boon by Neerja’s bedside. I don’t know if girls today still read these romances, but the book conjures up so many things – libraries in middle-class neighbourhoods, at least a little bit of naiveté, a hope that things will always turn out okay even if the world is against you, a phase in life where you can still while time away without guilting yourself that you aren’t reading something heavier, better, more useful. ”
That really made me cry- yes the review, because I refuse to watch Sonam make a hash job of a beloved hero of my childhood (Neerja was my mother’s neighbour in Bandra and there was a lesson on her life in my English text book in 5th standard, I double-idolized her). It made me think of those good old days of worn out mills and boons secretly brought home from the library…lazy saturday afternoons of reading them as we ate ice lollies made of lemonade…good times, great times…but for some people- the only times….makes one realize that life is so precious! We are still alive to remember the fun and beauty of the past!
LikeLiked by 3 people
sanjana
March 6, 2016
I think this movie is more about the mother. Losing a child even if it is a simple death after an illness or in an accident, leaves the mother or father with a void. No medals or praises can fill that emptiness. The parents wish that their child is alive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
brangan
March 6, 2016
Saurabh: Sometimes you just say random stuff.
Which is part of the fun, no? How terrible would it be if I kept saying things everyone agreed with all the time? 😀
I disagree with you that “resorting to cliched masala setups/tropes” undermines these stories. There are many ways to tell a story — this is one of those ways. I get that this style may not work for you, but I still don’t think it undermines anything.
About the other thing, I am not talking about middle-of-the-road cinema. Hrishikesh Mukherjee et al never made “hero”-narrative stories. I am saying that films like Airlift and Neerja handle the masala tropes with a kind of… classiness, if I may, and this makes these films palatable to those who don’t like masala tropes when served up the regular way.
Rakesh: Yes, the composer. I thought he looked vaguely familiar, and then Google confirmed it.
Madan: Melodrama is both a genre and a style. As a style, there wasn’t much melodrama here, but as a genre, this film had a lot of tropes (listed in the review).
LikeLiked by 2 people
Rohit Sathish Nair
March 6, 2016
So Sir, which one was a better film according to you? Airlift or Neerja?
LikeLike
sanjana
March 6, 2016
Shekar Ravijani was on some reality shows along with Vishal Dadlani. Quite goodlooking.
Must be following the footsteps of Himesh.
LikeLike
Sifter
March 6, 2016
That last paragraph of this review brought me almost to tears. Suffice to say I hated M&B (and Barbara Cartland) even when I was 10 or so. I couldn’t understand the craze when I finally managed to finish three of them and always going what? really? what? It surprised me then that my aunt used to read it almost everyday during her lunch hour and later realised that for a lot of young women they provided a sense of fictional release 🙂
This and Aligarh are the ones I’ll definitely watch.
LikeLike
Madan
March 6, 2016
Melodrama is both a genre and a style. As a style, there wasn’t much melodrama here, but as a genre, this film had a lot of tropes
LikeLike
awkshwayrd
March 6, 2016
Just got back from it. My final takeaway .. the only inspired-by-real-life movie where the real life person was far more beautiful than the star(let?) playing her… I mean Sonam looks believable in the air hostess persona but I can’t imagine her as the gorgeous model whose pics we’re shown during the credits
Wisely, Sonam wasn’t really asked to do most of the dramatic heavy lifting – they left that up to Shabana Azmi and the pitch perfect hijackers who are feel terrifically ‘real’ – desperate, clueless, and nervous (their cluelessness practically made me laugh)
‘Middle’ cinema is just right I felt .. Somehow something felt lacking in either the subject or the treatment. There was plenty of (melo)drama but it still felt like it didn’t quite do the subject justice, cinematically speaking. Maybe its because we’re used to biopics and based-on-real-events movies feeling all weighty and important .. and this – it feels like we’ll forget it by next year
I feel like they could have garnered more ‘weight’ by being more overtly ‘feministic’, perhaps delaying it till International Women’s Day (in 2 days time) – the strong unarmed female abuse survivor against the armed unstable bullies and so on (the treatment already goes there) – but I suppose that’s more about the perception than the actual film-making. Perhaps like you said, it’s just about the genre rather than the style.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aseema
March 6, 2016
What a lovely review. That last paragraph alone is worth it’s weight in gold.
I have a little disagreement with the chaat analogy though. I’m yet to find an air conditioned restaurant that serves chaat half as good as a street vendor in Bombay.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan
March 6, 2016
I’m yet to find an air conditioned restaurant that serves chaat half as good as a street vendor in Bombay.
LikeLiked by 1 person
ramitbajaj01
March 6, 2016
spoilers galore
What a brave little girl this Neerja was! Even in the time of such adversity, she kept her cool and outsmarts the terrorists again and again, especially during the American passport thing. I had goosebumps when she she told the terrorists that she was doing her job the way they were doing their. (It may not be directly from real life, but still…). At the end, when she could have come out of the plane first of all, she waited till everyone was out and safe. She even went inside to check if there was anyone left. I just couldn’t stop my tears from flowing in these portions. Some people just have it in them to be courageous! When she falls out of the plane after being hit with bullets, I wanted to reach out and hold her. Even the way she falls- such lack of theatrics, such genuine fall- adds to the sympathy.
Earlier, when the father tells the mother about the hijack and the way they console each other– it was such a touching scene. The father’s lack of words, the mother’s false assurance to herself was too real not to be moved.
At the end, when Shabana goes ahead and places the suit in the coffin, her walk– Ah! She almost fell and needed support. Gosh! How do actors do it. It’s so tough to take these scenes off the mind.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Madan
March 6, 2016
Maybe its because we’re used to biopics and based-on-real-events movies feeling all weighty and important .. and this – it feels like we’ll forget it by next year
LikeLike
Saurabh
March 6, 2016
Brangan: There are many ways to tell a story — this is one of those ways.
Yes. But alas we don’t see these different ways of telling a story. All stories don’t have to be told as a masala movie.
Brangan: I get that this style may not work for you … I may, and this makes these films palatable to those who don’t like masala tropes when served up the regular way.
Again, this a very strange assumption that you make. First of all I love masala movies (and I am a big fan of one of your favorite masala movie Khakee). And then, who are these people who don’t like masala movies served up the regular way? Neerja and Airlift are MASALA movies with a look and feel of documentary so that they look realistic. That’s all. The storytelling is all masala. So people who supposedly hate masala movie should be able to get that this is a masala movie. Using your analogy, if I absolutely don’t like Idli and I know what an Idli is, I would hate it whether you serve me in a roadside dhaba or an air-conditioned restaurant.
How does it undermine?
It undermines these people because we don’t get to know anything real about these people. For example what do we know about Neerja? The movie tells us that she is an angle in every which way. What did we get to know about Milkha Singh? That he was an amazing human being in every which way. For once, can we expect to get to know a character as a real human being? You do realize that hero in our films are not very human. Right? They have to be an amalgamation of everything awesome. Brave.. Kind.. Resilient… Respectful towards elders … Loving towards younger ones… Someone who is the heart of a party… Who teaches about life when they go and so on and so forth.
The movie starts out with Neerja literally “lighting” up the party which was so terribly dull till she was not there. I am not saying Neerja can not be such kind of person but the director must find ways to bring out these traits in “creative” ways. Think about this, the director clearly wants to bring the docu style, but then why not bring this in characterization as well without resorting to masala tropes? Neerja did something amazing and I believe what she did has enough merit to hold the audience. We don’t need a director who doesn’t have enough respect for her to portray her as a real human being, but instead portray her as an out-and-out stereotypical masala movie hero. Not every movie has to be a masala movie. Not every hero has to be a typical masala hero. Not every dramatization has to be a masala-dramatization. Not that we are lacking masala movies and masala heroes anyways that the director feels like he is trying out some innovative stuff here.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Saurabh
March 6, 2016
By the way, a good test is trying to replace Neerja with Akshay’s character in Airlift (and vice-versa), you won’t feel a tinge of disappointment or difference. Why? Because they are essentially the same character and people. A masala hero. They will behave in exactly the same way.
(Just that Akshay Kumar would not want a salwar-kameez for his Bday. Or may be he would so that he can donate it to a beggar near his compound.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan
March 6, 2016
The movie starts out with Neerja literally “lighting” up the party which was so terribly dull till she was not there
LikeLike
P
March 6, 2016
FYI Saurabh: My mom lived in the same building as Neerja as a youngster and she said Neerja was all that and more. She was an amazing person, a beautiful person, a fit person who played tennis everyday and chuckled at the boys who would gaze at her as she walked in her tennis skirts(this was the 70s!), fun, endearing, loving, life-of-the-party -be it a Ganesh Chaturti festival or New Years or even someone’s birthday.
You know what is amazing to know? That there are masala movie heroes who actually exist in real life- people who are positive energies that keep getting up no matter what they go through- abusive husband, a divorce when it was unheard of, a possibility of a second marriage, terrorists, being a Purser in an international flight crew of an American airlines, having the presence of mind to outwit a bunch of people with the sole aim of murdering everyone in your care…. Could anyone but a truly good and not just good but great person have done what she did to save all those people?
Maybe its time to put some rose-tinted glasses on, take away those gray aviators? 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
P
March 6, 2016
Also Saurabh I don’t understand this:
“You do realize that hero in our films are not very human. Right? They have to be an amalgamation of everything awesome. Brave.. Kind.. Resilient… Respectful towards elders … Loving towards younger ones… Someone who is the heart of a party… Who teaches about life when they go and so on and so forth.”
Why must a person who is brave resilient, respectful, loving etc etc- be characterized as “not very human”? Aren’t those the most humane qualities that everyone strives to have?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan
March 6, 2016
That there are masala movie heroes who actually exist in real life- people who are positive energies that keep getting up no matter what they go through – Thank you, this is what I was trying to say as well. Actually the things Neerja Bhanot did in the fateful PanAm flight were easily more superhuman that anything our superstars pretend to for reel. We can’t take that away from her just to fit art’s bias for the dark side.
LikeLiked by 1 person
snehnathneendoor
March 7, 2016
Kudos to the producers. If you troll aviation websites, the movie is getting a lot of praise for the level of authenticity in recreating the ill fated airplane. Sure, there are minor nitpicks here and there, but overall it is a fantastic job done by the Art Director, Costume Designer etc. It is sometimes frustrating to see even large budget movies pay lip service to geography, transport (for eg. Chennai Express…no Chennai bound train uses the Konkan Railway), but this just elevated the game.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yossarian
March 7, 2016
@Saurabh: Why should it be expected that the movie show every character nuance? If the movie chooses to show the dominant traits of the character, what’s wrong with that?
+Madan’s response above.
Expecting movies like Neerja and Airlift to be accurate character studies is a flawed expectation from the moviegoer’s part.
The movie primarily revolves around the Pan Am flight hijacking incident; Does it dramatize? I am sure it does. Does it fundamentally distort the heroic role that Neerja Bharot played in saving the lives of passengers? I dont think so.
LikeLike
Yossarian
March 7, 2016
@Saurabh, Also scroll down to the section where BR talks about Airlift in the below link
http://indiaindependentfilms.com/conversations-with-baradwaj-rangan/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yossarian
March 7, 2016
@Punee; Thanks for sharing that info!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nee
March 7, 2016
“They’re Bollywood films for people who like their chaat but won’t visit a street vendor. They’d rather be in a nice, air-conditioned restaurant. Same food, different setting.”
Wow. What a line. Pani puri with bisleri water.
Neerja did go beyond the call of her duties, not just doing her job.
LikeLiked by 1 person
sanjana
March 7, 2016
Neerja touches our hearts because, She did something which she need not have done and in turn saved her own skin. She went beyond. It was like a military situation and she took decisions like a conscientious military officer in command. She reminded me of that naval officer who went down with the ship.
And at such a tender age.
Many viewers said that Sonam Kapoor almost merged into that role. Any other better known star would not have become Neerja as the star’s personality would have overtaken. With the exception of maybe Kangana or Konkona. Happy that the much maligned Sonam got an opportunity to showcase that she too can rise to the demands of a role.
And Shabana is born to do such roles with natural ease.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Saurabh
March 7, 2016
Madan/Punee,
The point I am trying to make is not about the character of Neerja. I am with you about the fact that what Neerja did is a superhuman effort. To have the guts and courage to stand-up in such a situation is nothing less than superhuman and amazing.
The point I am trying to make is about the way the story of Neerja is told. Brangan has captured in great detail (in the 2nd and 3rd para) about how the story has been told in classic melodramatic way. He has also mentioned in great detail about how films like Airlift and Neerja don’t shy away from the emotional maximalism of Bollywood. This melodramatic structure (or way of storytelling) is all about easy emotional manipulation of audiences to make them feel for the “hero”. This structure strongly relies upon templatized heroes with well-defined “generic” traits. This structure also relies upon very generic emotionally manipulative situations/side-characters etc.
My gripe is that when we already have a great hero, why does the director need to rely upon these melodramatic structures. It is as if the heroism of the character is not enough to hold the audience and rather needs support from clever emotional manipulations from the melodramatic structures. Don’t you find this demeaning towards the character of Neerja?
It is as if the the director is saying
“Hmm.. what Neerja did is ok but that is not enough to hold the audience. Let us add this teary subplot about salwar-kameez. But that is also not enough. Lets also make her die on her birthday as if dying 2 days before her 23rd birthday is not tragic enough. Hmmm. So she is now dying young and also on her birthday but that is not good enough. Lets make her die just when she discovers the love of her life. And so on and so forth. Keep piling up with all the background music etc till the audience is ready to cry like a little baby. Because audiences are heartless stupids otherwise and are incapable of comprehending the pathos of a situation. Also, anyways what Neerja did is not enough to hold the audiences.”
I don’t know about you but I don’t need this hand-holding(or manipulation) from the director to respond to the superhuman effort of Neerja or to feel the pathos of the tragic loss it was. And, I do find the treatment rather demeaning and undermining not only to Neerja but even to the audiences.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan
March 7, 2016
Many viewers said that Sonam Kapoor almost merged into that role.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan
March 7, 2016
Lets also make her die on her birthday as if dying 2 days before her 23rd birthday is not tragic enough
As for salwar kameez, well, it appears in what two frames, first at the start when Neerja’s mother says she will wear it when she’s back home and then during the hijack drama when her mother fears she will lose her? IMO that does not quite qualify as a ‘teary subplot’. Once again, Neerja DID die two days before her birthday so it’s entirely plausible her mother had been waiting eagerly with a birthday present only to never be able to gift her the same. Most if not all of these tropes that you find to be generic masala tropes actually flow quite naturally from the core narrative.
It is as if the heroism of the character is not enough to hold the audience and rather needs support from clever emotional manipulations from the melodramatic structures
LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan
March 7, 2016
Just to add, I recently lost my grandfather and my parents were lamenting the fact that he never got to wear a T shirt which had been gifted him only a week before his death (and he had really liked it and said he would soon wear it). So this is not manipulation, this is how we Indians are. We are a bit (should I just say bit, though? 😛 ) sentimental. Nothing wrong with that, if you ask me. I had found Shabana’s speech a bit dragging, though more due to the release of tension after the hijack drama is over. But as I observed my relatives (actually even myself) go on and on in describing what my grandfather had been like, I thought again, “Yeah, we Indians are like this only”. The difference is Neerja combines our Indian sentimentality with a technical excellence that’s more Western. The strategies Madhvani used to shoot some of the hijack scenes sounded like something Hitchcock would have done; i.e. not telling actors playing the passengers exactly when the hijackers would shoot. Our films don’t do these things; they don’t pay attention to such nuances which are the difference between a crude desi hijack thriller and a well put together story that takes you inside the plane rather than through the sequence of events.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nee
March 7, 2016
Interesting. Especially because BR also mentions that same scene…here is director’s inspiration:
LikeLiked by 4 people
Madan
March 7, 2016
I have watched that film long back, maybe when I was a bit too young to properly observe it. But I do remember those last scenes which Madhvani mentions. Interesting that THAT was his inspiration.
LikeLiked by 1 person
P
March 7, 2016
@Saurabh: “Hmm.. what Neerja did is ok but that is not enough to hold the audience. Let us add this teary subplot about salwar-kameez. But that is also not enough. Lets also make her die on her birthday as if dying 2 days before her 23rd birthday is not tragic enough. Hmmm. So she is now dying young and also on her birthday but that is not good enough. Lets make her die just when she discovers the love of her life. And so on and so forth. Keep piling up with all the background music etc till the audience is ready to cry like a little baby. Because audiences are heartless stupids otherwise and are incapable of comprehending the pathos of a situation. Also, anyways what Neerja did is not enough to hold the audiences.”
Wow, you’ve made Ram Madhvani sound so horribly manipulative 🙂 I have not seen the movie (HATE SONAM!- wish they had taken Anushka…) but even so, the salwar thing, like Madan said, I would put it in that song from TWMR- “I am sentimental, but don’t get so judgemental, so what if I’m an old school girl…” 🙂 My father passed away when I was a kid and after all the 11 day stuff when we came back home and opened the fridge, we saw he had hidden away a box of ice-cream (his favorite- even though he was diabetic) in the freezer, I close my eyes even today and I can see that old fashioned blue freezer with the Amul ice-cream dabba in it, we never ate it you know- we just used to keep staring at it, laugh a little thinking about my child-like father, and then finally 3 months later gave it to the maid- I till today cant bear to eat Amul vanilla….
Just an example- Indians don’t need Ram Madhvani to pile things on- we already were ready to cry when we heard of the movie and of Neerja’s greatness 🙂 Because we are very sentimentallll….. Arre, I toh started crying in the last para of BR’s review only…. These masala movie tropes exist because those are the tropes of our lives, that is how we are, and we are like that only 🙂
The birthday thing has been explained by Madan, and as for the love of her life- that is absolutely true, there is a man in Bombay who remained unmarried till today, because he could never forget a smiling girl with a bob cut 🙂
Yossarian: You are welcome!
LikeLiked by 3 people
An Jo
March 7, 2016
I kind of understand where Saurabh – if he or she is the same ‘person’ – is coming from–[and having known his proclivity towards ‘masala’ from previous interactions on a different blog]—it is surely startling for me the way he is going against ‘masala’ when it comes to NEERJA.
The more he talks of the treatment of NEERJA, the more I am inclined to think that he would have preferred Greengrass’ ‘UNITED ‘93’ type of cinematic treatment of the movie. I would have preferred that as well, except that I don’t find anything particularly ‘offensive’ in Ram’s enactment.
Yes, there are clichés galore – including the manipulative ‘build-up’ to Neerja’s characteristics; a party-livener, a larger-than-life believer, and all that ‘crap.’ But as someone pointed out, maybe that ‘crap’ is as what was true of Neerja’s real characteristic. Leaving that aside, even if that were false, let’s say Madhvani did use ‘masala’ tropes, how would it belie the central impact of the story? Be honest as an audience, once you are caught in the claustrophobic wings of the airplane, did you REALLY think of Neerja being the life of a ‘PARTY’ or did you just let yourself being wallowed in with the story of a woman who had a better presence-of-mind than her colleagues? Did the tears that wet your chin – if they did— have anything to do with the fact that NEERJA did dance to Rajesh Khanna’s weird steps or that she was the life of a party in some shitty Navjeevan Society? [Yeah, I have lived in Bombay most of my life and I know how these ‘society’ get-togethers operate.]
The point of any cinematic experience is that as important as the gamut of emotions it generates when you are in front of the screen, it is also about the TRUTH and range of emotions it brings out when you are alone and DISTANT from the screen. What do you remember? Whether you are with Delerium Tremens or lassi or worse, with Budweiser? One’s got to respond to that.
And I never felt responding to the ‘manipulated’ emotions. I responded only to Neerja’s emotions in ‘real-screen’ time. Yes she pulls out the card to check what the guy has to say. But isn’t it logical? If one doesn’t even know whether one will survive in the next 60 minutes, what does one do? One tries to pull up ALL pleasant memories before Yama or ISIS or Trump or Modi – yes let’s be politically correct and NYT pleasing too and include Modi—yanks out the life out of ya. Hell, that’s been my ‘Modi-operandus’ before I catch a flight every time out of IED to Bombay!!
The bottom-line is, does a film, on a pure grammatical level bother one or on an introspective, emotional level. I have MANY questions on Neerja grammatically, but on an emotional level, it packs the requisite punch and I am quite on its side.
What does a story-telling technique do? Does it service the essence of the spirit of the story or does it undermine it? And that’s what I go by; if the ‘tropes’ are serviced to under-line and not under-mine individual achievements, the I am quite game for it: If not, the dishonesty does blacken through..and one need not have many debates..
LikeLiked by 4 people
Kid
March 7, 2016
” My father passed away when I was a kid and after all the 11 day stuff when we came back home and opened the fridge, we saw he had hidden away a box of ice-cream (his favorite- even though he was diabetic) in the freezer, I close my eyes even today and I can see that old fashioned blue freezer with the Amul ice-cream dabba in it, we never ate it you know- we just used to keep staring at it, laugh a little thinking about my child-like father, and then finally 3 months later gave it to the maid- I till today cant bear to eat Amul vanilla….”-
This entire passage is so deeply moving. Thanks for sharing Punee.
LikeLiked by 2 people
P
March 7, 2016
An Jo: What a superb comment. And I must agree with you about the modus operandi before flying! I am always looking at the “dangerous” looking people around me, with one foot out of the door- so if it look like something’s gonna explode I can run out of there…which is what makes me admire Neerja so much, when every human’s first instinct is a selfish one- for themselves, it took GREAT courage to think of others…its amazing…
Kid: I appreciate your comment, don’t know what else to say, I will go back into the past otherwise 🙂 You’re welcome, Pappa and his memories are a joy to me and I am glad that you got something out of him too ….
LikeLiked by 1 person
sanjana
March 7, 2016
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/She-died-fighting-breast-tax-her-name-lives-on. Another brave woman from Kerala.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan
March 7, 2016
once you are caught in the claustrophobic wings of the airplane, did you REALLY think of Neerja being the life of a ‘PARTY’ or did you just let yourself being wallowed in with the story of a woman who had a better presence-of-mind than her colleagues?
LikeLiked by 2 people
MANK
March 7, 2016
*Punee :have not seen the movie (HATE SONAM!- wish they had taken Anushka…) *
Punee , then you made the right choice . this is the second film in a row for me that was derailed (almost) by the lead actress. first was Fitoor. but contrary to Fitoor , this is a terrific film good enough that even sonam couldnt derail it.i am quite surprised by all the praise that is coming her way. i thought she was very unconvincing – especially her dialogue delivery and her body language, she has a terrible paris hilton hangover.like Brangan, i think aaisha was the best she could do.- especially when compared to her co actors. shabhana azmi, oh god. i don’t know any other actress who could have pulled of that final speech with such elan -and not letting it fall in to melodrama. i thought the speech was well written too – talking about sisters tying rakhis on their brothers for protection and how sisters are not expected to protect the brothers – .the actors who played the terrorists – just marvellous-, they do the heavy lifting of making much of the scenes inside the plane work. in fact the scene where the terrorists have a breakdown is one of the best scenes in the film. the editing , music and the performances just building ,building,building,…
And contrary to much of the opinion here, i didnt find the film manipulative . on the contrary , it is anything but that. there is no patriotic chants, no xenophobia – the pakistani characters are treated as human beings-and I agree with Brangan about the presence of melodramatic tropes and the fact that the film never falls into melodrama. take the case of Neerja’s death scene, trying to save the children. now that could have been the most manipulative melodramatic moment. in any other film we would have the terrorist loading the pistol in slowmo, neerja covering the children, hands flailing, screams drowned out wailing violin chants on the BGM. but here it is shot in a detached , clumsy chaotic documentary style. i liked it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
sanjana
March 7, 2016
If the movie failed, everybody would have blamed Sonam and as the movie is doing good, people are saying inspite of Sonam.
She will not win either way with her detractors. Poor Sonam! Or poor little rich girl Sonam!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Deepak
March 7, 2016
A
LikeLike
abhilasha cherukuri
March 7, 2016
Though Indian film industry will never get rid of its own unique style of cinema(and why should we)it’s heartening to see some quality middle-road cinema,which I think started with lagaan.I totally agree with sir’s view that sonam is much better in an Aisha or a khoobsurat (though I believe she totally slayed it in neerja). sonam’s personality and muscle memory is tailor made for the romcoms and chick flicks a’la a Kate Hudson/Jennifer aniston/Reese Witherspoon/Rachel McAdams but with chick flicks neither having an emotional nor a financial market in this part of the world,her talent is being sadly trivialized and discounted,which leads her to act in cinematic gems like players or prem ratan dhan payo.this is probably the new middle road Indian cinema needs to traverse in,cinema that is box office friendly while centering around the romantic aspirations of FEMALE protagonists.
PS-i grew up in the 2000s and read Mills and boon’s throughout school,copies which were so similar to the one shown in the film,old dog eared paperbacks stuffed in textbooks and snuck out of school libraries(as our septuagenarian librarian never let us borrow one legit)
Those were the times……….
LikeLiked by 3 people
Deepak
March 7, 2016
I was waiting to see what you’d think about this movie, but I suppose at the time of its release you were in Berlin. I was quite surprised to see that you really enjoyed it, but I can see where you’re coming from in your like for the movie. In my case also I was almost bawling during the final speech by Shabana Azmi, even though I consciously knew that it was horribly manipulative. But she’s such a wonderful actor thay even your conscious protestations are swept away by the power of her performance. And I feel that by putting her in this role the director gave away the little chance that Sonam had to show off any chops she may have. So Sonam and her lack of fitment in the role was a big issue for me. Another thing was some weird choices with the camera work. In many scenes, the character’s faces were cut off at the neck which I found very distracting, not something you’d want in an edge of the seat thriller type movie. Like Saurabh said above, I also felt that a slightly more realistic tone may have served the subject matter even better.
LikeLike
vijay
March 8, 2016
It is amazing how nostalgia gets a lot of people teary-eyed more than the tragic happenings on a plane. why aren’t our filmmakers tapping more into this perennial well of memories and emotions?
LikeLike
vijay
March 8, 2016
all the talk of nostalgia and Anand, made me remember this song, a classic SPB version of the original Lata number from Salilda
LikeLiked by 1 person
Saurabh
March 8, 2016
Punee:
Thanks for mentioning your personal experiences (about your father and it seems that you or your family knew Neerja personally). I think you were able to relate to the movie on a very personal level. I have sometimes related to a movie at a very personal level myself.
However, for this movie, I have no such reference points and hence watched it mostly as a movie, which does not mean that I don’t admire Neerja for what she did.
An Jo:
I think you are confusing me with somebody else. I don’t comment (have never commented) anywhere else and I am sure we have never interacted before anywhere else. By the way, I am Saurabh (my real name) and I currently live and work in US. Hello. 🙂
I have mentioned this before but I, like everybody else who has grown up in India, love masala movies. Who wouldn’t?
Ok, coming back to this movie.
An Jo and MANK:
– The base of my opinion/argument starts from the observation that the tone and grammar of storytelling in the movie = melodrama + a hero’s journey. If you disagree, I would refer you back to the 2nd and 3rd para of Brangan’s review who has put this very aptly. If you still disagree, then, there is no point reading my comment further because everything I say ahead stems from this observation.
Also, let me accept this upfront that given the melodramatic format of the movie, it is better than much of the masala output that comes along. As MANK and Brangan have pointed out, a lot of situations have been handled in a better way. So, even though the grammar is melodramatic + hero’s journey, it is an improvement over the usual crap that we are capable of (or do produce) on a regular basis. Again, I don’t hate masala movies. I just hate crappy masala movies.
My gripe is that (melodrama + hero’s journey), especially in Bollywood context comes with a certain baggage in terms of characterization, situations, structures, side-charcaters, villains etc. When you make a movie using that grammar, it is a deliberate choice that you take. And then even though, you can improve at many places, you still have to resort to the conventions of the syntax. And it can bog the story down if the structure is not a good fit. Also melodramatic format is geared towards maximal emotional punch. That is the essence of this structure.
I know my third point above sounds theoretical so let me give an example. Airlift, for example has been made with more or less the same sensibility as Neerja. Melodramatic storytelling structure + hero’s journey + documentary style + restrained performances. Melodramatic scenes have been handled in a much better way. However, since the structure was a melodramatic hero’s journey, so it suits better to keep the odds against the hero. This had some impact on the amount of focus/weight the movie can give on the efforts/portrayal of Indian government. A lot of people including me have mentioned/complained that the Indian government either has been portrayed in a negative light or has not been given enough screen time (both of which are a side-effect of the way director has chosen to tell the story).
Another example from this movie: As AnJo mentioned “And I never felt responding to the ‘manipulated’ emotions.” Many have mentioned that some bits felt like dragging on. But then this means wasted screen time. Not the most impactful way of telling a story. No?
It seems like, we are saying the same thing. Its just that we are looking at it from the opposite sides.
The point you guys are making is that the movie although in the melodramatic format is a considerable improvement in the way it treats the situations and the style it chooses and hence a laudable effort. And if you put it this way, I completely agree.
I am saying, when we have a character (story) which has so much power/content in itself, we don’t need to resort to the melodramatic format (albeit a considerably improved ones). We can be bold in our storytelling (not just for the sake of it but because it will serve the story better).
So in short where you see considerable improvement, I see lost opportunity. We had an amazing story, a lot of people and money was committed to it but IMO, we dint take it to its full potential.
I guess I should see the movie your way and laud the improvements. The issue seems to be what Brangan mentioned in his interview “You have to have that switch inside you that can be turned to the ‘ballet’ or the ‘bharatanatyam’ setting, depending on the film. “
LikeLike
Madan
March 8, 2016
Many have mentioned that some bits felt like dragging on. But then this means wasted screen time
LikeLiked by 1 person
Arun S
March 8, 2016
I personally think idealism to the extent of 100 % is not the way forward in Indian movies. Yes, we had those in era of mgr or Amitabh bachan…but we cannot connect ourselves, discuss diverse views.
1.For example in the film Aligarh, Siras was shown as doing something questionable initially. The film appeared to side with him but it was never pushed down the throat of the viewer. He had certain gray shades but you could find yourself appreciating some of his views.
Mayakkam Enna – Dhanus seems mostly rude , arrogant in the scenes where he argues with Richa over a missed opportunity. But it is this quality that makes us love the climax where he triumphs over his “role model”.
Where pure idealism worked for me was in Rang De basanthi. The death of a friend changes their outlook on life and country.
Where it did not work out at all was in Naan/Salim. A bad upbringing cannot gloss over his cold blooded murders/impersonation of someone. In Salim it was the worst. At least Naan seemed real. Salim was pure disappointment. You cannot change your nature suddenly because your girlfriend thinks you are meek and do not question the society. Though in the film they showed the death of a girl was a catalyst it seemed like an afterthought to me. thiruttu payale also did not work for me completely . Though I could the buy the change of heart, the film confused me on whether he was a gray or dark person.
LikeLiked by 1 person
P
March 8, 2016
@Saurabh: I haven’t watched the film 🙂 And I don’t plan to.
I was talking about how you think melodrama or heroism is not “human” and the example with my dad was to explain the point of how real people also think like the salwar kameez example you mentioned.
In your latest comment you said:
“I am saying, when we have a character (story) which has so much power/content in itself, we don’t need to resort to the melodramatic format (albeit a considerably improved ones). We can be bold in our storytelling (not just for the sake of it but because it will serve the story better).”
What do you mean by “bold”? Do you mean they shouldn’t have mentioned the salwar kameez, the rajesh khanna, the mills and boons, the 23rd birthday, the man who she’s in love with and just made it a movie within the four walls of a plane?
I personally don’t think that that sort of documentary-style film-making works for what is in essence a melodramatic story of an Indian girl who single-handedly went above and beyond the call of duty. It may work for an Amalie or something- which is just the regular happenings in a regular girl’s regular life.
Extraordinary stories require extraordinary, melodramatic treatment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Saurabh
March 9, 2016
I have already written long essays on this thread. So my last comment. 🙂
@Punee:
“Extraordinary stories require extraordinary, melodramatic treatment.”
Agree with extraordinary treatment and that is what I am rooting for. Not necessarily melodramatic though. Also, what is not melodramatic is documentary does not feel right to me.
a) I dont know if you have seen the movie but one of my favorite movies is “A man escaped” (Not comparing the two movies but just giving an example). The story is about a man called Fontaine, who escapes a german prison. We stay with the character throughout the movie, we only see what he sees, we only hear what he hears, and being a prisoner he is stuck in a small prison cell. The soundtrack does not have any music but only ambience sounds (but what a soundtrack!). There are no confrontational scenes given he is stuck in a cell alone. There are no flashbacks as the movie is all about his present time in the prison and how he escapes from there. But even with all these limitations, the way the film has been constructed, the way sound track is used, the way Fontaine reacts to small things, the way he gets little things done etc, it is a nail-biting thriller. Also, by the end of the movie, you would feel that you know Fontaine very intimately. You don’t just know his ideologies but you know the person. He is optimistic, compassionate, has enormous patience, is very skillful, resourceful and creative. You feel his trepidation, his nervousness, his joys, his relief etc. The movie sucks you in and you start to feel what Fontaine feels. So the storytelling structure is very different from melodramatic but it still is a dramatic movie (and does not feel like documentary).
b) As I have said before, melodramatic structure aims for maximum emotional impact by using such incidents, background music etc They aim to drown you by their emotional loudness. Nothing wrong with that but not every story has to be told that way. And, as you might agree, when somebody shouts, you tend to half-listen. However, when somebody is calm and speaks slowly, you lean-in and pay more attention. That is the kind of difference I am talking about.
For this movie, if we keep our faith in the superhuman efforts of Neerja and let the viewers lean-in, it might have a much stronger and long-lasting impact.
LikeLiked by 3 people
P
March 9, 2016
“A man escaped” sounds interesting but that sort of story-telling doesn’t work for us Indians no? 🙂 I would myself not watch such a movie- I honestly would find it boring or maybe even claustrophobic.
But just because that is a valid storytelling style doesn’t mean a film that gives emotional context (I wouldn’t call it loudness) is invalid 🙂
You can of course find it boring 🙂
PS: I liked the point you made about conversations with someone shouting versus someone talking- a very interesting point! But one that applies to real life not art 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dr.Srinivas
March 11, 2016
// That sort of story-telling doesn’t work for us Indians//
Eh? Why is that so?
Of course, there are various ‘valid’ ways to make a Film but there is no earthly reason as to why this particular style of film making shouldn’t work here.
‘A Man Escaped’ is a far superior Film to ‘Neerja’ not only because of the reasons mentioned above. Melodramatic tropes are facetious in such instances where it only attempts to garnish an already spicy Sub and ends up spoiling the perfect dish.Apologies for the food reference but I was damned hungry!
Bresson is a celebrated Film maker known for his ‘austere’ style and his modus operandi is well known to most serious Film viewers but it is a folly to assume that his Films are emotionally detached and ‘boring’ by default. In fact, far from it.
Perhaps, a better example would be ‘The Diary Of A Country Priest’. I’m no Catholic and quite a cynic actually but it moved me to tears. The Film is the best possible reply to the ‘Extraordinary stories require extraordinary, melodramatic treatment’ line.
LikeLike
Dr.Srinivas
March 11, 2016
Having said all that; ‘Neerja’ is a good,solid Film that largely works but extrapolating a point made by someone above, a truly great Film appeals to both the senses and the intellect.
LikeLike
Kid
March 11, 2016
“Of course, there are various ‘valid’ ways to make a Film but there is no earthly reason as to why this particular style of film making shouldn’t work here.”-
Agreed completely.
“…a truly great Film appeals to both the senses and the intellect”
For someone who is so liberal regarding the treatment/handling of a film, aren’t you being more than a little constricted in your view regarding how a “truly great film” should work for the audience. I mean why does it have to appeal to both the senses and the intellect (I, quite frankly, don’t find this sort of insistence on separating the reactions of the “heart” and the “head” very useful while discussing a film) for it to be a great film?! Again, I find this sort of arguement (and there is an entire cultural archive for this sort of “thought”) unfairly tilted in favour of films which are supposedly more “intelligent”. By using this bizarre intellect logic, we may come to a bizarre conclusion where every Shyam Benegal should automatically be considered to be superior to a Manmohan Desai film
“but it is a folly to assume that his Films are emotionally detached and ‘boring’ by default”-
Agreed, but it is also a folly to assume that if someone finds a film “emotionally detached”, he automatically means that the film is “boring”. The latter doesn’t follow the former at all, to assume so would be running the risk of making a huge lapse in logic. There are many Tarantino films which might be considered emotionally cold, but they might not always be “boring”. Also “boring” is a perfectly valid emotional/instinctive response to ANY kind of art (including a Bresson film). For instance someone might find an Adoor Gopalakrishnan film boring. That’s a perfectly valid response. The situation only becomes tricky when he says something on the lines of “this Adoor film was a bad film because it was boring” (not that he can’t say that the film is bad, just that to make a case for it he can’t rely on abstract words like boring). But yeah, no one can challenge someone’s emotional response to a film simply because the maker doesn’t have control over anyone’s limbic system. Some may might find Bresson boring, some may might find his films emotionally detached, some may think that his works are moving. All of these are perfectly valid responses.
“Perhaps, a better example would be ‘The Diary Of A Country Priest’. I’m no Catholic and quite a cynic actually but it moved me to tears”-
While it is well and good that The Diary of a Country Priest may have “moved you to tears”, I am unsure as to how this particular emotional reaction of yours to this specific film is even valid to this discussion. What if there are viewers who were left cold and unmoved by this film. Are we then going to question your response to it or theirs?! Or are we going to question the film’s merit for not being emotionally moving for each and every viewer?! Also, I don’t know how your mention of you “not being a Catholic and actually being quite a cynic” strengthens the validity of your arguement. Because your statement somehow surreptitiously argues that a Catholic’s response to this film is somehow less legitimate (and more compromised) than that of someone who isn’t a Catholic. It’s almost like saying that if someone is a fan of particular person’s work, it means by default that his views on that particular person’s hold no merit because they ought to be compromised by his fandom.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dr. Srinivas
March 12, 2016
//For someone who is so liberal regarding the treatment/handling of a film, aren’t you being more than a little constricted in your view regarding how a “truly great film” should work for the audience. I mean why does it have to appeal to both the senses and the intellect (I, quite frankly, don’t find this sort of insistence on separating the reactions of the “heart” and the “head” very useful while discussing a film) for it to be a great film?! Again, I find this sort of arguement (and there is an entire cultural archive for this sort of “thought”) unfairly tilted in favour of films which are supposedly more “intelligent”.//
Aah, just the kind of response I expected! I suppose that was a given but in my defence, I was too busy to explain myself further.
As has been mentioned ad nauseam, Film critiquing is extremely subjective so I was just voicing my opinion here. I don’t expect everybody else to agree with it but I sure as hell can attempt to valid my POVs. To me, resorting to melodrama which comes off as contrived when the material is especially strong hints at lazy,slightly inferior film making. IMO that’s what separates a ‘Le Trou’ from ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. Then again, that’s just me.
//but it is also a folly to assume that if someone finds a film “emotionally detached”, he automatically means that the film is “boring”//
I was responding to the post above mine where someone indicated that she would find Films like ‘A Man Escaped’ boring because they are minimalistic and shorn of melodrama.
Your reading of my post is incorrect. I don’t ‘assume’ that if someone finds a Film ’emotionally detached’, he automatically means that the film is ‘boring’. I find some allegedly ‘intellectual’ and ’emotionally cold’ Films to be vapid/ boring and many other Films of the same ilk to be extremely stimulating/interesting.
//Also “boring” is a perfectly valid emotional/instinctive response to ANY kind of art (including a Bresson film). For instance someone might find an Adoor Gopalakrishnan film boring. That’s a perfectly valid response. The situation only becomes tricky when he says something on the lines of “this Adoor film was a bad film because it was boring”//
I was just about to type something similar. ‘Boring Film’ and ‘Bad Films’ are two different responses.
//While it is well and good that The Diary of a Country Priest may have “moved you to tears”, I am unsure as to how this particular emotional reaction of yours to this specific film is even valid to this discussion.//
Eh?
I thought it was pretty obvious. I was responding to the ‘Extraordinary stories require extraordinary, melodramatic treatment’ line. To me, that is not so.
//What if there are viewers who were left cold and unmoved by this film. Are we then going to question your response to it or theirs?! Or are we going to question the film’s merit for not being emotionally moving for each and every viewer?!//
Same reply as above.
//Also, I don’t know how your mention of you “not being a Catholic and actually being quite a cynic” strengthens the validity of your arguement. Because your statement somehow surreptitiously argues that a Catholic’s response to this film is somehow less legitimate (and more compromised) than that of someone who isn’t a Catholic.//
I don’t think that was the implication. Bresson grapples here with a subject that a lot of people are loathe to acknowledge. The priest here is obviously holy and most of the people around him are befuddled and unable to come to terms with his intense sincerity and startlingly robust faith. Their response to him and in turn his response to them were revealing.
I meant to say that though I’m not a Catholic, I was deeply moved by Bresson’s realistic portrayal of the loftiest themes of Catholicism and his vision of spiritual humanity despite being an avowed Atheist.
LikeLike
P
March 12, 2016
@Kid: ” It’s almost like saying that if someone is a fan of particular person’s work, it means by default that his views on that particular person’s hold no merit because they ought to be compromised by his fandom.”
This is just perfect. I am going to use it everytime someone brings in criticism of my love for, well, the people I love 😀 Hope you don’t mind!
LikeLiked by 1 person
sanjana
May 8, 2016
Watched Neerja on Starplus. I wish it was not based on reality. Or it was loosely based on reality and had its own story. As it was a realiic drama, I felt guilty being entertained by this action packed movie where terrorists looked so real and scary and so thrilling to watch their antics. Whether we accept it or not, there was this entertainment thing with emotional drama by the mother and action in the plane. And that maybe the reason that I could not get teary eyed but I felt extremely sad thinking about the real victims, the passengers and Neerja who were ruthlessly killed. Sonam Kapoor was good in almost all the scenes except perhaps one. And then I read everything about the failed hijack drama on the net There are those who tried to discredit Neerja indirectly and their arguments sounded shrill and petty to me. Was that speech by Shabana Azmi in front of a big audience necessary? It could have been a dialogue addressed to her family members in the privacy of their home. It would have been much more effective and realistic that way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
asmamasood
July 10, 2016
My review of what is more than just a movie… “Neerja: Story of a Rising Phoenix that Returns to the Ashes Yet Lives Forever”
LikeLike