There are some movies you enjoy and a few you admire. Peepli Live definitely falls into the latter category. The admiration comes partly from the entertainment portion and partly from the things you can draw out from the movie. The movie, in general, is perhaps the most expressive form of art that directly affect the human consciousness. The images, whether moving or stationary, play a very important role for the human society as well. This form of art carries with it two contradictory forms; openness and mysteriousness at the same time. The qualities were aptly described in another good movie, The Brothers Bloom. In it one of the characters describes photograph as a secret of a secret; the more it tells you the less you know. Good movies, or photographs or books take you to a certain place and leave you there to make your judgement whether about a character or a situation. They are not trying to tunnel your thought process but just providing with certain additives which would help you along the way. Peepli Live gave us a situation and a few characters. It didn't tried to give us solutions to any of the problems represented in the movie. It didn't tried to give us a "message" but just a small eye opener to things we have forgotten to notice. The expectation is not to change the world but to realize what else exists besides you and me. Now you may ask what did I learn? The movie reminded me about opening my outlook to various aspects of a situation. It reminded me there is always something more I can know about almost anything in the world. And above all a great director (read mentor) doesn't make decisions for you but guides you to a place where I am comfortable but still vulnerable enough to try something new. Because in vulnerability lies the juice for creativity.
Coming back to the movie, Peepli Live, it provided you with a few characters in a situation. Each and every character was shown to you from different angles so you can look at there multiple aspects. You can enjoy their unique responses to a situation and create your own back story about their motives. The director or the screenwriter is giving you the freedom to fill in the gaps. In between the main theme of the movie you can see these aspects and each acts like a small lamp lighting another dark corner of the character. As the movie progresses you see the character as a whole. Perhaps this is what is said as character development. In Peepli Live you can see each and every character described to you in bits and pieces along the whole length of the movie. The movie shows all the characters (whether the helpless Natha, or his irritating mother, or his nagging wife, or the silent worker digging dirt or any of the venal bureaucrats) from their own point of view. It doesn't try to make you like or dislike any of the characters by just focusing on certain qualities. Rather it shows each with their own distinct qualities, opinions and motives. What can I learn form this? May be one of the lessons could be reducing my restricitiveness. All of us have heard the phrase "thinking out of the box" but what does it mean? Is it some special form of thinking which requires certain intelligence? Or may be it is just the ability to think from others' point of view. I am capable of thinking from my own experiences and motives but if I can think from your point of view; I guess I am thinking out of my "own" box. I would like to practice this a bit more.
Finally lets talk about the humor in the movie. Again I would refer to what Neil Simon said about humor. He said humor lies in seeing things we commonly do in our day to day life but never saw took time to notice it. A guy slipping on the cow dung lying on road, a nagging wife, a venal politician, a rotund & lazy policeman or as we see in the end when the media circus left the site littered with water bottles and other stuff. All this I have seen but never noticed it with a "humor" perspective. So if I can learn to see humor in my day to day life I can live a more healthier life! So next time you see a movie try to get more than a bit of enjoyment.
Coming back to the movie, Peepli Live, it provided you with a few characters in a situation. Each and every character was shown to you from different angles so you can look at there multiple aspects. You can enjoy their unique responses to a situation and create your own back story about their motives. The director or the screenwriter is giving you the freedom to fill in the gaps. In between the main theme of the movie you can see these aspects and each acts like a small lamp lighting another dark corner of the character. As the movie progresses you see the character as a whole. Perhaps this is what is said as character development. In Peepli Live you can see each and every character described to you in bits and pieces along the whole length of the movie. The movie shows all the characters (whether the helpless Natha, or his irritating mother, or his nagging wife, or the silent worker digging dirt or any of the venal bureaucrats) from their own point of view. It doesn't try to make you like or dislike any of the characters by just focusing on certain qualities. Rather it shows each with their own distinct qualities, opinions and motives. What can I learn form this? May be one of the lessons could be reducing my restricitiveness. All of us have heard the phrase "thinking out of the box" but what does it mean? Is it some special form of thinking which requires certain intelligence? Or may be it is just the ability to think from others' point of view. I am capable of thinking from my own experiences and motives but if I can think from your point of view; I guess I am thinking out of my "own" box. I would like to practice this a bit more.
Finally lets talk about the humor in the movie. Again I would refer to what Neil Simon said about humor. He said humor lies in seeing things we commonly do in our day to day life but never saw took time to notice it. A guy slipping on the cow dung lying on road, a nagging wife, a venal politician, a rotund & lazy policeman or as we see in the end when the media circus left the site littered with water bottles and other stuff. All this I have seen but never noticed it with a "humor" perspective. So if I can learn to see humor in my day to day life I can live a more healthier life! So next time you see a movie try to get more than a bit of enjoyment.
Comments
Post a Comment