Monday, April 09, 2007

Ashima is Tabu. Tabu, is Ashima. Namesake is just shake up your brain and clean it up cutting clean brilliant .I always thought Panna of Hututu was Tabu, fragile edgy beautiful, but no, Ashima is Tabu. Awesome. My Cal, and why memories must be memories.The heartbreaking grandeur, the peeling-paint decay, the pratima of the deity lowered to the waters . Shots that get under your skin, the howling one, the morgue one how did she know, pulling out moisture from long dry eyes. That “that’s only for family” one. The last shot of Ashima tackling a pure alap with a confident abandon, on the open terrace, by the backdrop of the sky and howrah bridge. Somewhere it is about being forty-something and getting on with your life, the world and its first cousin, go take a hike. Now I must read the book. (The Namesake/ Mira Nair, based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri)


The swirling heat blankets the city first thing mornings, when you con yourself how nice sandalwood or khus or cologne or whatever soap scent smells and you need a bath about ten minutes after you’ve just had one, is a great time to begin reading Marquez. The sadness and the breadth where a lifetime is condensed in maybe five words, yes, no?, and why what must be, must be, ah lovely! “Seventy poisoned Englishmen”, and “I only came in to use the phone”; from those sleek seventy years of penguin series, not too much, not a little, which seems right in every way.


After a fortnight of polite “good morning, Manhattan, maxima minima windspeed”, N digs and how. Two minutes and he says he needs a tequila, not tea. He digs and questions and parries and pulls at scabs and peels picks. Deftly sidesteps tight punches powerful enough to leave a blue shiner. Late? Take a cab/walk, but, talk. Throws in Jung and patterns till he draws the furious gray steel of temper, the same one as sixteen years ago. “See a therapist”. And I still think he is the most terrific darling in the world.

Climbing up the steps to babulnath, ragged breath and names of long dead benefactors paved underneath. The generous green canopy against the pink sandstone and gold at siddhivinayak, touching the breeze like a benediction. The light flooding past the engraved screen at the sanctum. The reflection of the spires on glass casing on the mount opposite Mount Mary’s, where the eternal flame burns. IE is back at work post her chemo, a thanksgiving. V moves on to newer pastures, the world awaits, and her black granite desk stark and empty.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are a bloody good writer ma'am.

austere said...

you're very kind, e.

AmitL said...

nice review.:)

Prerona said...

lol. my 2 cents - just ranting too tired from work to be PC. i loved namesake, but i thought tabu could have done much much better. she was much better in hu tu tu still for me. i didnt like the crying shot - it was stupid and unreal. she's to old and mature and experienced an artist for me not have exected a better performance from. some shots were heartbreakingly well done - for me they were like the shots where she hangs up after alling her son ... but still she is too melodramatic - just a touch - i can imagine a real mom hanging up and saying 'happy birthday'into the empty room - but not quite like that - i dont know. hard to objectify reasons but though i liked the movie and her performance it def'ly wasnt one of my fav tabu performances - she didnt 'become her' ashima - no way! have you read the book? did she compare you in ur opinion?

what really blew my mind was gogol ... what a brilliant performance. he became gogol. even the dad was ok.

Prerona said...

he sounds nice :)
before i used to be fascinated by such people - no they sometimes tire me and sometimes even bore me a bit. lol. again

just me ranting. dont set off to get angry - ignore me
have been doing more than 12 hours a day in the lab - brains polite centre has been over taken by emergency services

austere said...

amitl- thanks. :)

ricer- i hate pc, which either you know by now or know nothing.i liked the movie, no nits. crying shot to me was sensible because I have cried like that,phone wala dunno, maybe so;book yet to be read, but for me, Tabu is Ashima, for you Panna, still a democracy.

Yes, he is sweet, and cute and nice and not bad for a scorp, want his number babe?Decent is the word we're looking for here.(edited)

GhostOfTomJoad said...

Alas, I've only seen the trailer yet...not the film :-) Haven't even read the book.

About Siddhivinayak...no disrespect meant but, in many ways, it is the perfect example of the commercialisation of religion, isn't it? Mt. Mary, on the other hand, is so nice and simple!

Billy said...

:)

austere said...

Mr Ghost, but you will see it from your film-maker's eye, and you will see what you will, is it not? I found it incredibly woven, she does that, even with Monsoon wedding you had that tautness.
Absolutely agree on the "shortcuts" at sidhivinayak, somehow I freeze it out and over an hour long wait, drink in the green and light. Mt Mary's is peace, is rooted somehow, some connect I cant name.

abbagirl: grin, too.

manuscrypts said...

hmmm...have to forget about multiplexes and watch the movie i guess

austere said...

In a theatre. large screen. dolby sound.MUST, ok?