Sunday, November 15, 2015

He Rode The Fast Lane On The Road To Nowhere

Five Easy Pieces (1970)


Dupea: I'd like a plain omelette, no potatoes, tomatoes instead, a cup of coffee, and wheat toast.
Waitress: No substitutions.
Dupea: What do you mean? You don't have any tomatoes?
Waitress: Only what's on the menu. You can have a number two - a plain omelette. It comes with cottage fries and rolls.
Dupea: Yeah, I know what it comes with, but it's not what I want.
Waitress: Well, I'll come back when you make up your mind.
Dupea: Wait a minute. I have made up my mind. I'd like a plain omelette, no potatoes on the plate, a cup of coffee, and a side order of wheat toast.
Waitress: I'm sorry. We don't have any side orders of toast. I'll give you an English muffin or a coffee roll.
Dupea: What do you mean you don't make side orders of toast? You make sandwiches, don't you?
Waitress: Would you like to talk to the manager?
Dupea: You've got bread and a toaster of some kind?
Waitress: I don't make the rules.
Dupea: Okay, I'll make it as easy for you as I can. I'd like an omelette, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce, and a cup of coffee.
Waitress: A number two, chicken sal san, hold the butter, the lettuce, and the mayonnaise, and a cup of coffee. Anything else?
Dupea: Yeah. Now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.
Waitress: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?
Dupea: I want you to hold it between your knees.
Waitress: You see that sign, sir? Yes, you'll all have to leave. I'm not taking any more of your smartness and sarcasm.
Dupea: You see this sign? (sweeps all the water glasses and menus off the table)

I had come across this drop dead funny scene way too often to ignore the film and I finally watched the master piece called Five Easy Pieces. This is an era where things were very unsettling, the youth was unsure, perplexed with the events, the film makers were revolting with an emphasis on realism, the so called “American New wave”.

Robert "Bobby" Eroica Dupea( Jack Nicholson) is a brooding blue-collared laborer in an oil-rig, who spends his idle time in bowling, bars, motels, while trying to adjust with his simpleton and insecure waitress girlfriend, Rayette Dipesto (played by Karen Black), who aspires to be a country singer. The difference between the two is obvious and gets clearer with their music discussions when Bobby tries to explain his choice with words like, “It's a question of musical integrity" and is retorted by Rayette, “You can play on the piano. Your whole damn family can play some kind of musical instrument. All I'm asking is for you to help me improve my musical talent”. And one realizes, Bobby does not belong here. He  is a complex individual who has left a life of privilege and culture behind to become an oil rig worker, in an attempt to get away, a life where he was a child prodigy but an under achiever as per his father’s expectations leading him to oblivion, degenerating into meaningless existence.
His emotions are the typical Nicholson-schy; reactive, exploding with rage,  with some  shades of vulnerability, that vanished with age in other masterpieces like ‘The Shining’, ‘The Departed’ or ‘As good as it gets’. While on a runaway from his restlessness and upper class family, he is equally restive in his new sphere. He has a disdain to the surroundings while maintaining the indifference to his past.
There is a scene when Bobby gleefully jumps up on a truck in a freeway traffic jam, discovers a piano strapped on top and gives a spontaneous freeway concert, playing the film’s first piece of the five- Chopin’s Fantasy. What strikes one is his denial or the attempt at escaping from reality when the truck drifts in a wrong direction. His confused self resurfaces again in a spat with his co-worker where Bobby refuses to be compared to him and his trailer-living life that’s beneath him. He feels out-of place here, and recklessly quits his rig job when the film takes a subtle turn into his past life that he has been running away from.
 He visits his ailing father and his siblings, the house of music that he had run away from. He still feels alienated and yet plays another piece with dexterity. His lack of direction towards any one particular life does not let him be and he tries to make peace with it by making a remorseful confession to his father. This powerful scene leaves one choked, when Robert apologizes and says, “I am sorry, it didn’t work out”. 
Towards the end, he abandons his girlfriend, leaves his identifications behind and escapes as the same disenchanted lost soul with a lumber truck to somewhere unknown, looking for freedom. This abrupt ending leaves one feeling empty and depleted, yearning for escape, exactly how Nicholson's character feels, but realizing that one cannot escape self. This resonates with the theme of everyday life; just living life because this is where you are and then developing an indifference for life because you stop living. 

                          -  He Rode The Fast Lane On The Road To Nowhere.






Friday, November 6, 2015

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron- A walk through the cult film



There are few films which sink before learning to float and then re-emerge after decades as the so called cult films.
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron is one such cult film that acquired a cult following with dedicated fan base, quoting dialogues at the drop of a hat, for who has not used the dialogue, “Thoda khao, thoda phenko, bahut mazaa aayega", sititng in college canteens, to the jaw aching, “Beta Duryodhan, yeh kya ho raha hai!
Living up to the definition of a cult film, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron faded quickly from theatres and went to the national broadcaster Doordarshan, the fringe benefit of NFDC producing the film. After umpteen airs on Doordarshan till it became a black spot, one could still not catch the full film thanks to the obscure schedule timings. I remember watching the second half of the film and then finally completing the jigsaw puzzle of the whole film in another three attempts.
The innocent duo, Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani struggle to make a living through their “Beauty photo studio” and sing, “Hum honge kaamyaab, ek din (We shall overcome someday)” till they wind up dragging a dead body, leading to many iconic scenes, etched forever in our minds.

 Be it Om Puri’s drunken state or the Mahabharata scene; one is bound to bang some funny bones. 

The turning point of the film comes with Vinod and Sudhir accidentally clicking a picture that shows Tarneja murdering someone. The duo uncovers the dead body of D'Mello. And in the process Sudhir says, “Vinod, Chal ghar chalte hain”. This hits you somewhere, the callousness that we show in dealing with all the wrong doings, happening around us; we stop, we observe, we react (maybe) and then we continue on our way.
What makes Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron a cult film is the satire, the black comedy, which fits the current India as well as it fit 32 years back. The orchestrated madness for two hours plus has its own way of conveying the political message, a satire at its best. It lampoons the society we live in, where innocent virtues stand defeated against power and corruption. One is not left behind for a moment to sit back and ponder for the stark undercurrents and the climax hit hard, making one squirm in the spot.
The film remains relevant in today’s India. Just turn around and dodge all the intolerance and bans, the answer is there. Scams, nexus, communal riots, things have only become worse, like a hydra-headed monster engulfing all that is good. The film is no guide to how the life should be led, but it provokes you to ruminate, after one is done laughing out loud. Another worth mentioning dialogue is when Tanreja scoffs, “ In logon ko Bengal ki Khadi ya Arab sagar mein dubo dena chahiye (The press should be dumped in Bay of Bengal or Arabian Sea)” and we feel the same for the media today. Back then the public and media spoke against the faulting government, now the media is at the receiving end, not that our government has turned all pious.
And in enclosing, let us refresh ourselves with the funniest penultimate scene of the film- The Mahabharata scene.
Recapping some of the stinging one-liners, need I say more!

*Shant gadaadhari Bheem, shant
* Nahi, Draupadi jaisi Sati nari ko dekhkar maine cheer haran ka idea drop kar diya hai.
* Draupadi tere akele ki nahi hai. Hum sab shareholder hain.
* Nalayak, adharmi, durachari, vamachari, bhrasthachari, bol sorry!
*Jai ho, aisi Sati nari ki jai ho.
* This is too much. Yeh Akbar kahan se aa gaya?


The last scene says a lot, does it not?
Don't let go of things, take charge!





Sunday, October 18, 2015

Khali’s new ad is cemented in history

Picture this- a bikini clad girl, sea shore, water dripping from her wet hair, sultry looks, what imagery does it draw? While you would try to think of some brand to fit this ad, shooing away the song running in your head, “samandar mein naha kar aur bhi, namkeen ho gayi ho..” when the end slate rolls with some cement brand, you feel trolled.
The point to ponder over is that how baked were the thinking heads who conceptualized and cemented the bizarre ad with some poor brand forever.  Some research to find out the agency turned futile but the sweet search, “bikini cement” led me to some answers. Check out the link below (some fan has recorded this from TV, so ignore the poor quality)

A minute of silence for the brand here! Still curious, was it a B-roll? Anyways, I rest my cat here.


Let us look into the category of cement. With more than 500 cement plants in India, it becomes difficult for a cement brand to stand out on the same USP that every other 499 cement brands possess. The single point functionality of cement is to act as the binding force behind the preparation of concrete mixture when added with sand, gravel and water. One can only imagine the boundaries it creates in conveying the same.
While most cement ads get trapped in the regular tough unbreakable walls, some use celebrities, one took a spin and showed hot avant -garde models as construction laborers who had cement smeared on their hot bodies, more than the wall in the backdrop. Just when I was done with bikini cement ad, one more ad pops up. (See the pic below)


ASCI (The Advertising Standards council of India), once more, does not object to the objectifying of women and men both, well in one more ad! I found my answer on their site- vying for fairness in advertising must be keeping them really busy (we will look into the dark side of fairness creams someday). (See pic below)

Without digressing further, let us participate in the talk of the ad world, Khali ad, the brand comes only later. We see this funny and yet pleasant ad which has Khali talking about the woes of being Khali and not being able to live a normal life. Why just cement bro, furniture, car, footwear, clothing, and many more brands can follow a similar pursuit with you. This ad clicks because of humor, the plain and innocent depiction by Khali where he recalls his childhood. The ad can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByoKOG3Y-bI

Without getting into the details of who are the heads and arms behind the ad (those details have been doing the rounds), this ad makes a mark because the brand tells a human story without any gimmick. The known face of Khali is a bonus but the fact that he is not a seasoned professional when in front of camera, helps in making the story credible.  The story makes an impact by not showing the cement strength but by highlighting the strength of Khali, a point well established.
This just led me to look into my repertoire of good ads and I stumbled upon the Mr. W ad (I had of course forgotten the brand, but personifying wind and using the metaphor was a beautiful way of depicting an otherwise technical wind energy.
Those who want to see the ad can click below:


All in all, we can say that in the history of cement ads, Khali’s ad is set in cement now. Let there be more ads coming our way to be cast in stone.
Amen!