New Wine in an old Bottle

In my last post I pointed out that how the recent film makers have been depicting my hometown Calcutta draped in its old world charm that have ceased to exist long ago. I mentioned a recent movie by the name  " Detective Byomkesh Bakshy " and a friend of mine was quick to point out that for the sake of the story the time line was necessary and thus the old world British -Raj era was necessary. Well I completely agree with my friend but can we not approach the story from a different perspective? 

Byomkesh Bakshi created by Saradindu Bandhopadhyay and Feluda by Satyajit Ray are icons of Bengali sleuths based on which numerous attempts have been made on both small screen and on celluloid but those attempts were made just to recreate what we already know from the novels that we have read numerous times. Why can we not use the main story line and the characters to create something on the current scenario? Why do Byomkesh always have to be dressed in a traditional Bengali dhoti running places and chasing criminals in a by gone era? Why can he not be dressed as a modern man in our present society doing the same in a more current social situation. I mean look at Sherlock Holmes how he has evolved in the small screen over the years keeping its integrity intact. Arthur Conan Doyal created his masterpiece in a Victorian era and the first attempt which was made on small screen exactly depicted what the novel tells us but look at the new SHERLOCK he is a modern detective living in modern times and solving crimes in tandem with the current problems of the society. I mean from Jeremy brett ( who played the original sherlock holmes in BBC's Tv series) to Benedict Cumberbatch ( who plays the lead role in BBC's SHERLOCK) its a huge leap from the conceptualised point itself, the characters have been modified, totally new characters and their new dynamism have been introduced,the stories have been tweaked to fit the present society but the main essence remained the same. So why not try the same with our local and also very famous detectives and why only these detective novels there are numerous other famous works by many famous writers which can easily be adjusted and presented on silver screen riding on our present social situation. There have been attempts in the past but they were few. The only one which I could think of right now is ' Dev D'  which was based on the famous novel ' Devdas' written by another Bengali literary icon Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay which was given a modern flavor keeping the main skeleton intact but the response was bleak and this is the main reason why most film makers try to restrict themselves in the originality of the novel and fears of experimentation, because gone are the days in Indian cinema where you make a movie to urge the public to get involved with the society, because the society itself have changed and loves to turn blind on matters related to itself.

I would love to see a movie where Byomkesh chases his criminals in a Kolkata Metro and get stuck in it, as numerous people do almost regularly now a days and then his case gets affected by it, that would be damn interesting, But no!! how can one think of such a scenario because its Byomkesh right ? I mean here is a detective for whom everything must be as smooth as the author wrote, he is a superman living a different world altogether right ? common people think different, think out of the box bring some spice and try to portray what we face in our daily life, I am sure if Saradindu Bandhopadyay would have composed his novels today he would surely have included the present society and its workings in his creations. Guys these people have given us guidelines to follow through their works but that does not necessarily means that we always have to stick to it, add variations, think a bit different, give us something to think about other than the cinematography and music and the direction, Give us a new story wrapped in an original binding. Please serve us something new to toast but keep the bottle old so that we can enjoy the best of both worlds.

Jeremy Brett (left ) & Benedict Cumberbatch (right) portraying Sherlock Holmes for BBC's Tv series. Jeremy Brett portrayed the character during the Victorian age while Benedict's depiction of the character is more modern and in sync with the present days.









          

Romancing a Mummy

A mummy is a deceased human or other animal whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay further if kept in cool and dry conditions

Those who are thinking that this post of mine is about Egypt or the icon related with it please just have patience because its not. I guess Hollywood film makers and documentary makers have given us enough exposure to the subject. Although the definition of Mummy tells us about a deceased living being my post is about a city which have been mummified and have been portrayed in recent past by various film makers as if its still breathing ,but believe me it's not, at least not in the way it has been portrayed over and over again in our recent memory and hence my title " Romancing a Mummy" because it seems our film makers either don't want to or is unknowingly romancing a dead city. The city is my hometown and something very close to my heart. It's " amar sohor" Kolkata or which i prefer to call it as Calcutta. 

Last Saturday I watched a movie based on the famous Bengali sleuth by the name " Byomkesh Bakshi", a character immortalized in the memory of all Bengali's by the famous writer Sharadindi Bandhopadhyay. The movie portrayed 1940s Calcutta ( mind it! not Kolkata) in its charming and shadowy best. The trams, the dhoti clad 'bangalis', the ' mess bari' culture, the political DNA running through every ones blood ( it still runs strong) all portrayed beautifully taking its viewers in a time travel roller coaster ride to the city's past marinated with the suspense and thrill of the script. Two years back another movie based on the city by the name " Kahani" that portrayed its city's residents romancing the city,  But believe me the Calcutta at present is nothing to be romanticized about but it never gets portrayed in its current state of existence. Gone are the days when a movie having Calcutta in its backdrop would force you to stop and ponder where do you stand in the mix of things and what are you doing in this dynamic labyrinth of the social fabric. 

Mrinal Sen one of the prolific filmmaker in the silver screens history and a National award winning director portrayed the then turmoil-ed and troubled Kolkata in its second movie ' Calcutta71' released in the year 1972. In 1976 Satyajit Ray made another masterpiece by the name " Pratidwandi" which potrayed a common youths struggle to meet his own and his family's expectations in securing a job in the twisted and dark social scenario inflicting the city at that time. Both Ray and Sen have potrayed Calcutta in its then recent backdrop rather than the old world charm or the ' city of joy ' image which recent film makers have been depicting on screen. The Political reign of the city have changed hands and have evolved in many phases but still what we see in our movies is the depiction of a city having a happy go lucky laid back attitude towards society. Calcutta have always been a city teeming with cultural and rebellious ingredients providing us a aroma of  intellectual city but things have changed and its changing everyday but our recent film makers seems to be romancing a city that is long dead, what only remains is the outer skin of a once intellectually cultural city but believe me guys the city which we long knew has cesed to exist a long time ago. Just like a mummified body the people of Kolkata ( mostly the seniors) have kept the city under the thin sheet of hallucinating romance that simply does not exist now. 

Earlier Calcutta was all about 'bonidiyana' and para culture but that have changed , Calcutta now is just like other metro cities across the nation where the pace is fast and brutal , where a person wakes up in the morning to meet a deadline in office and does not care about getting the best quality of fish in the early morning market or does not care about going for a morning walk yet Calcutta whenever depicted in movies seems to bring back such exposure which have almost ceased to exist. The two very successful Bengali movies that won accolades are 'Bhoot er bhobbisyot' ( that also got a hindi make by the name gangs of ghost) and ' Open tee Bioscope' that have brought back the old world charm in the movie and again the same romanticizing of the already by gone era. I am not against this but why our film makers not interested to show the Calcutta which we know today, why not bring out the social problems, the molestations, the students uprising, the political hara-kiri that is the current scenario of the city. The answer to this which I believe is that people don't want to face the mirror and just want to exist in a dreamy fairyland where things are just the opposite to what is happening in their day to day life. So if this is the answer then Sen and Ray made a huge mistake by making films related to then current scenario. I believe they did not because they considered themselves responsible to change what is happening around them and to do that they thought to enlighten the general audience so that things change for the better by a collective effort from the society. Then again the society have changed as a whole, people earlier would have felt responsible for the things happening around them and so those films made an impact on their life and to the society as a whole but presently the mindset of the society have changed to a whole new level of singularity where everything and anything related to oneself matters. Unless and until something is affecting once's lifestyle it should not be a headache for an individual.So the Film makers are not to be blamed since they are just providing the entertainment in the platter which the public prefers but are they not responsible? to invoke the so called social responsibility among the general public as their form of entertainment is reaching to such a huge audience. 

There are many film makers that tries to portray the current side of the city in what is called " parralel cinema", the name itself suggest that it runs a different course altogether from the so called main-stream audience. Thus a depiction of truth is something which need to have a singular unpopular path of its own as it is not accepted by the general audience. These parallel cinema will win critics accolades, will woo international film festival jury but will not rake in the moolah to bring a smile to the producers face and thus is the biggest reason for our current film makers to be romanticizing with a dead aura of a city which have been mummified just for the audiences who likes to visit the theatres ( read meuseum) and feel that is how all is around them.

I don't blame the film makers for their obsession with the city's old world charm and it's attitude that is long dead, I don't blame the society for evolving into something which does not accepts the bitter truth, If someone is to be blamed it's those film makers who have created timeless masterpieces long before my time and have provided me to ask these questions as to why my city cannot be shown as it is today. Calcutta have evolved , degraded and have again risen from its ashes time and time over but our film makers seems to be stuck in an era that have long ceased to exist. My city is beautiful , my city is lovely but it also have a ugly side, it has a dark side which the world needs to see because if you don't accept your cons your pro's cannot be strengthened. Its better to bury the dead rather than being obsessed with the corpse and fantasying about it. 

Dear film makers show my city's old world charm and its beauty but please try not to romance with this mummy because the real thing is ugly and my society deserves to see it even though it does not want to see because ultimately its the society which is degrading trying to shy away from the present.