The Genesis According To The Fictionalist

A colleague was mine asked me if I can write a synopsis of the story of Genesis for her first year BA students. They have to study the first part of John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’...

“OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden...”

I said okay. As I began to write, I said why not put some spice to the story and make it more interesting. I did. And it turned out something like this...

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was a God. He lived in a place called Heaven, somewhere in the space among the clouds (Read D G Rossetti’s ‘The Blessed Damozel’ for an accurate description of how Heaven looks like, a thousand years later). He had several names — El, Elohim, Baal, Yahweh and so on; the meaning of all these names was more or less the same, he was The One. He had a band of angels, called archangels, to follow him, over whom he ruled. Among them, the chief was the one called Lucifer, the morning light. And everyone lived happily ever after for many many years.

Many many years later, God grew little tired of his perfect heaven; there was nothing much to do. So, he set a task for himself. Let’s create something else instead. Till then, there was nothing outside heaven, it was all dark and chaotic. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. God got pretty excited about this new development; so he said, let’s do something else. And he played with the chaos in the space and created the earth; and he separated the water from the land. The land was barren, the sea empty. God said let there be water, and there was water, and there was fish and life in the seas and trees and animals and birds, and everything was green and prosperous and heavenly. God created the sun and the moon, the stars, and everything else. It was all perfect. Yet, something was missing. What? Then God said, let's create man into my own image, as I am, or I was when I was young, and he took the clay from the earth and fashioned a man; he called him Adam.

Adam roamed the earth, the most enchanted part of the earth, called the Garden of Eden. God happily sat back and looked at Adam. But, Adam was not happy; everyone in the garden had their companions, all the birds, all the beasts, all the fishes, all the plants, and he was alone. God felt very bad for him. So when he was asleep that night, God took out a rib from Adam’s spine and created another figure, similar to man, but not so similar too so that it sustains Adam’s interest. She was called Eve and Adam was very, very happy. Then God appeared before them and told them that they are their favourites among all his creations, because, they are made just like him. God gave everything in the world to Adam and Eve and told them to use everything in the world and rule every beast and bird and fish and insects in the world; only just one tiny thing: There is a tree in the middle of the garden, they should never go near the tree and eat the fruit.

Six days had passed while God was busy doing all these. He felt tired and went to sleep; and that’s the reason we get a holiday after working for six days, Thank God.

The next day, he called his minions, the archangels, to show off his creation. After giving them a tour of the world, he introduced them to Adam and Eve. He was so proud with the creation of man that he told all archangels to bow before Adam and Eve. The other angels did as God told them, but not Lucifer. He was as proud as his master. He told God that he won’t bow before anyone except God himself. He argued: He is made of fire, and men are made of clay; hence he is superior to the man. But God would hear none of these arguments. He was furious with Lucifer for not obeying his orders. Lucifer was furious too. What right God has to rule over them? He questioned. He has powers too, he too is handsome, he too has skills — why shouldn’t he rule Heaven instead of God, he asked. Who made God the king, anyway? Lucifer not only stopped at questioning God’s authority, but also persuaded his fellow angels to protest against God’s totalitarian regime. He had a swift tongue and good oratory skills. Soon, he acquired a band of followers, ready to dethrone God.

What happened next was a celestial war, God versus Lucifer, God’s army helmed by Rafael, Gabriel and other archangels. The war raged on for years and years, for centuries. Finally, Lucifer was defeated. God was still angry and banished Lucifer to the fiery pit, far far away from Heaven, among the lakes of sulphur and raging fire, a place called Hell. But Lucifer would show no remorse. He said: “It’s better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven.” Indomitable, he and his followers build a place among the fire and sulphur, and plotted their next move against God.

As he was thinking how to take revenge on God, one day, Lucifer, now called Satan, for he defied God, came up with the ultimate plan. All these wars against God started because of those blasted humans, Adam and Eve. God cares more about them than anything else. What if he, Satan, can make these humans defy God. That would be a sweet enough revenge. Once the plot was ready, it was just a matter of time to execute it.

But how to enter the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve lives? Satan has been banished from wandering around anywhere near Heaven or the garden and God’s spies, his good angels, are everywhere. It was time for a disguise. So, Satan disguised himself a snake and infiltrated the Garden of Eden. That was easy. The difficult part was how to make these humans defy God. Adam and Eve were savage, barbaric, unimaginative; they did not have any clue about their desires, their rights; they did not have any idea what’s good or bad. They had everything they needed, and their needs were very limited.

Disguised as a snake, Satan spied on Adam and Eve for several days, as they walked about the garden, eating fruits, talking to the animals, lazying about, just heaving a good time. He observed that both of them, the man and the woman, would never venture to the middle of the garden, where there’s this massive tree, laden with beautiful fruits, inviting and enticing, fantastic than anything the garden has to offer. Why then these humans avoiding the fruit of this particular tree? Satan the snake asked himself. And he had the answer, why, yes, this is the tree of knowledge. You eat the fruit and you gain intelligence. Satan now realised why these humans are so obedient to God and why they are avoiding this tree. God has forbade them to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge, for he does not want his creatures to be intelligent. Satan had found his key to his revenge against his archenemy.

The next day, he confronted Eve while Adam was away, to have a bath, probably. Lucifer was always a sweet-talker; it was very easy for him to convinced Eve that she is very beautiful and deserve much more than what she has, in fact, she deserves to be next to God, why she deserves to be God herself. But God has denied these things from her. But, said Eve, God, has been very nice to us. Is he, asked Satan. He was about to succeed in his plan. If so, why then the all-loving God has denied you the taste of the most beautiful fruit in the entire garden? Satan asked Eve. Eve had no answer to that question. Probably, the fruit is poisonous or something, God is worried about our safety, Eve said lamely. She was not convinced herself. Yes, why God, who claims to love them, should deny them such a beautiful fruit, she thought.

Satan explained. God is basically a patriarch and very insecure, he does not want anyone to usurp him. Hence, the denial and the forbidden fruit, for the fruit contains knowledge and intelligence, qualities which made God what he is today.

Eve was sufficiently intrigued, and excited even. What happens if I eat the fruit, she asked. That was Satan’s moment. He said, you become like God. That was it. Who doesn’t want to be God.

So, she walked over to the tree and plucked a fruit. She was about to take a bite, she got a little scared. She called Adam and told him her plan. She wants to taste the forbidden fruit and she wants him to taste it as well. Adam refused it outright, nah. But Eve wouldn’t hear nothing. She thrust the fruit in Adam’s hand, and the fruit looked so delectable that Adam could not hold himself. He gave into temptation and took a bite, then he gave the fruit to Eve who took a bite as well.

Nothing dramatic happened. If there was an earthquake, they did not hear it. But something else happened. Suddenly, they realised that they were stark naked. They realised that they were different from each other, and they felt a strange kind of attraction for each other. What was happening? What was the knowledge?

But God knew what had happened. He was upset. He came down to visit Adam and Eve but they cannot be seen. God called out their names. After several utterances, Adam said, God, we are here, but we cannot come to see you. God asked why. Adam said we are naked and we are ashamed. God asked how do you know that you are naked. Did you eat that fruit. Both the man and the woman said yes. God was furious. You were my favourite creatures, and you defy me. You deserve punishment.

Now, Adam and Eve came out from the hiding, with fig leaves covering their genitals. They beg for mercy; they said they were tricked by evil Satan. Whatever it may be, you must pay for your sin, the very first sin, the original sin. And the punishment — you are banished from the Garden to the Earth, where you will toil to feed yourself, clothe yourself, and you will beget children and you will die, then only you will be allowed to enter Heaven. And God left.

It was time for the humans to leave the idylls of the Garden of Eden and come to the Earth, assisted by archangel Rafael. But Eve was not ready to leave just like that when all the other animals would live happily in the Garden. So she plucked a few more fruits, gathered all the animals and told them to eat it. And they did, except for the bird phoenix. Now, a rule is a rule; God had to banish all the other animals from the garden as well and the menagerie followed the first man and the first woman on earth.

Meanwhile, God was so happy at the phoenix’s faithfulness that he granted the bird a boon, that he will never die and will be reborn from his own ashes. And, God was so unhappy with Satan that he said the form he took to seduce Eve, the snake, will forever crawl on Earth.

Thus, this is how we came to be born, according to The Bible.

Just to complete the story of Adam and Eve, they came to the earth and beget two sons — Cain and Abel. When they grew up, Cain killed Abel and run away to meet other tribes who do not worship the God of his father. Later, Adam and Eve had another son, called Seth.

whathappenedinmybirthyear

The other day, a friend of mine mailed me this link: http://whathappenedinmybirthyear.com/

As you can guess, the idea is simple. You key in the year of your birth and they tell you what happened that year.
I keyed in 1976. Here’s what they said:


In 1976, the world was a different place.

There was no Google yet. Or Yahoo.

In 1976, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was Rocky. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the poster.

Remember, that was before there were DVDs. People were indeed watching movies in the cinema, and not downloading them online. Imagine the packed seats, the laughter, the excitement, the novelty. And mostly all of that without 3D computer effects.

Do you know who won the Oscars that year? The academy award for the best movie went to Rocky. The Oscar for best foreign movie that year went to Black and White in Color. The top actor was Peter Finch for his role as Howard Beale in Network. The top actress was Faye Dunaway for her role as Diana Christensen in Network. The best director? John G. Avildsen for Rocky.

In the year 1976, the time when you arrived on this planet, books were still popularly read on paper, not on digital devices. Trees were felled to get the word out. The number one US bestseller of the time was Trinity by Leon Uris. Oh, that's many years ago. Have you read that book? Have you heard of it? Look at the cover!

In 1976... the first commercial Concorde flight takes off. The trial against jailed members of the Red Army Faction begins in Stuttgart, West Germany. The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state. Western Sahara declares independence. General Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria is assassinated in a military coup. The first 4.6 miles of the Washington Metro subway system opens. Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. As a measure to curb population growth, the minimum age for marriage in India is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women. The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 is won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, with their song Save Your Kisses for Me. The chimes of Big Ben stopped when part of the chiming mechanism disintegrated through metal fatigue. The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, taking the first close-up color photos of the planet's surface. The video game of the day was Breakout.

That was the world you were born into. Since then, you and others have changed it.

The Nobel prize for Literature that year went to Saul Bellow. The Nobel Peace prize went to Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan. The Nobel prize for physics went to Burton Richter and Samuel Chao Chung Ting from the United States for their pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind. The sensation this created was big. But it didn't stop the planets from spinning, on and on, year by year. Years in which you would grow bigger, older, smarter, and, if you were lucky, sometimes wiser. Years in which you also lost some things. Possessions got misplaced. Memories faded. Friends parted ways. The best friends, you tried to hold on. This is what counts in life, isn't it?

The 1970s were indeed a special decade. Women's liberation continued. The hippie culture faded. There was an opposition to the Vietnam war, and nuclear weapons. The environmentalist movement began. Tom Wolfe coined the decade the "Me decade" due to a new self-awareness. Mao Zedong died and the market began to liberate in China. There was an oil crisis. After the first oil shock, gasoline was rationed in many countries. In Eastern Europe, Soviet-style command economies begin showing signs of stagnation. The Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, witness the kidnapping and murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian Arab terrorists. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The Who, Pink Floyd, The Eagles, Bee Gees, Abba and others play their music. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison all die at the age of 27. The space mission Apollo 13 nearly ends in disaster. Egypt signed the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. There was a revolution in Iran. The world sees its first general microprocessor. The C programming language makes its debut. Consumer video games show up on the scene. Microwave ovens become commercially available. Margaret Thatcher was victorious in the UK elections.

Do you remember the movie that was all the rage when you were 15? The Silence of the Lambs. Do you still remember the songs playing on the radio when you were 15? Maybe it was I've Been Thinking About You by Londonbeat. Were you in love? Who were you in love with, do you remember?

In 1976, 15 years earlier, a long time ago, the year when you were born, the song Don't Go Breaking My Heart by Elton John and Kiki Dee topped the US charts. Do you know the lyrics? Do you know the tune? Sing along.

You take the weight off me
Honey when you knock on my door
I gave you my key
Nobody knows it
When I was down
I was your clown
Nobody knows it
Right from the start
I gave you my heart
I gave you my heart
...

There's a kid outside, shouting, playing. It doesn't care about time. It doesn't know about time. It shouts and it plays and thinks time is forever. You were once that kid.

When you were 9, the movie Return to Oz was playing. When you were 8, there was The Karate Kid. When you were 7, there was a Disney movie out called The Fox and the Hound. Does this ring a bell?

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... it's 1976. There's TV noise coming from the second floor. Someone turned up the volume way too high. The sun is burning from above. These were different times. The show playing on TV is The Bionic Woman. The sun goes down. Someone switches channels. There's Laverne & Shirley on now. That's the world you were born in.

Progress, year after year. Do you wonder where the world is heading towards? The technology available today would have blown your mind in 1976. Do you know what was invented in the year you were born? The Gore-Tex Fabric. Perpendicular Recording. Polyphony.

We better keep all remembering this land now.
This land full of people bent
On gettin' their kicks Lord, Lord.
I think we all better pick up the sticks.
In 1976.
...

That's from the song 1976 by Grand Funk Railroad.

In 1976, a new character entered the world of comic books: Captain Britain. Bang! Boom! But that's just fiction, right? In the real world, in 1976, Melissa Joan Hart was born. And Scott Caan. Colin Farrell, too. And you, of course. Everyone an individual. Everyone special. Everyone taking a different path through life.
It's 2010.

The world is a different place.

What path have you taken?

‘Sapno Ke Desh Mein’

Everybody is not as lucky as Anusha Rizvi, who first directorial venture is picked-up by someone like Aamir Khan and the film is marketed like a blockbuster. This is not to deny that Pipli [Live] is not a worthwhile effort. It is. So are other first-time efforts which are invariably lost in the gimmick of the chaotic Bollywood. Chennai-based filmmaker Chetan Shah's debut 'Sapno Ke Desh Mein' is a fine example. The film, which opens today in Pune, in a multiplex, for just one show a day is in the making for the last four years. Shot digitally (which looks breathtakingly beautiful), the film has seen its share of trouble in finding audience. Now, the film is being released city by city, and the only hope for Shah is the word of mouth publicity, that people go and see the film.

Here's more about the movie: (From the press release)

Sapno Ke Desh Mein’ is an independently-made feature film that released in Mumbai on 23rd April 2010, and follows as a staggered release in other metros and mini metros. The film opened in Hyderabad and Bangalore on May 14th and plays in Pune from August 27th.

In an era of the Digital Technology revolution that has engulfed the film industry, ‘Sapno Ke Desh Mein’ is the first feature film released in the country that is High Definition (HD) Digital from script to screen.

Stretching the conventions of production technology and storytelling, the film has experimented in a number of areas: Narrative structure, cinematic form, background score, songs in a Hindi-English, raga-rock fusion. Not bound by norms or formulas ‘Sapno Ke Desh Mein’ makes for an unusual cinema-going experience in the country today. The film is an attempt to entertain an audience without pandering to them.

Synopsis
‘Sapno Ke Desh Mein’ (CBFC ‘U’. 106 minutes) is about a group of college students who think that a harmless prank has resulted in their Dean’s death. They cover their tracks making it look like an accident but as the law closes in on them, they uncover a sinister plot behind the death and have to implicate the real culprits to establish their innocence.

The film is a murder mystery, with humour and romance. Within this murder mystery format the film engages with a broader theme questioning the veracity of what the camera records and the authenticity of what the eye sees. One theme the film explores is that both of these frames – the camera and the mind’s eye - are equally capable of distorting reality.

Making of the film: A classic case of going the Digital way.

'Sapno Ke Desh Mein' has been shot on the newly available High Definition Digital format which involves a huge cost saving for independent filmmakers, plus enhanced image and sound quality. Digital offers extraordinary possibilities for image manipulation, colour correction and CG in post. The film is to be exhibited at theatres equipped with HD Digital projection systems which involves a huge saving on 35 mm print costs, offers a clean projected image without pinholes and scratches, top quality six track surround sound, and avoids messy reel change-overs.
Hinglish

The film was originally shot as a Hindi–English mix using live synch recording. The predominantly English version ‘Framed’ had a limited release in Chennai at a time when there were few digital theatres in the multiplexes. A re-edited, predominantly Hindi version is now hitting theatres, thanks to the boom in digital projection.

MusicThe theme music and background score - using only guitar sounds - have been composed and performed by Boston-based guitarist Prasanna on acoustic and electric guitar – no other instrument has been used. Prasanna scored the music for the Oscar winning documentary ‘Smile Pinki’. The movie also has four songs composed by four different ad-film music directors. The film experiments in a number of areas, music being one of them: the songs are woven into realistic situations.

Cast and Crew The cast is a mix of experienced stage actors and first timers. The young ensemble cast have been painstakingly assembled after extensive auditions across the country and largely drawn from Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore theatre. Actor Rohan Gupta studied drama in New York and is working in Mira Nair’s forthcoming production. Lekha Washington was an IPL anchor and has bagged a number of plum Tamil and Hindi film roles. Karthik Kumar runs a successful theatre group and is an accomplished screen actor. Film stalwarts like Dhritiman Chaterji and Tinnu Anand, as well as consummate senior stage actors, gave the newcomers guidance and confidence.

Acclaimed cinematographer Navroze Contactor has wielded the HD Digital camera and noted classical-contemporary dancer Nirmala Seshadri has choreographed the dance movements for natural spontaneity.

Writer - DirectorChetan Shah, a philosophy graduate from Cambridge, worked on David Lean’s ‘A Passage to India’ before he established himself as an independent filmmaker of international documentaries, ads, corporate videos, and TV serials. His Malay language serial for Singapore TV achieved top ratings and won six awards. Chetan Shah has written three plays in English which have been successfully staged. ‘Sapno Ke Desh Mein’ is his first feature film.

What the director has to say on going Digital:“HD Digital empowers independent filmmaking both in terms of budget and cinematic choices. For one thing we were able to work with tremendously talented first time actors. We conducted auditions, found our cast, workshop-ed them into the characters they play. During the shoot we didn’t have to worry about conserving footage – we went upto 20 takes sometimes; shot 40 hours of footage for a 2 hour movie – a luxury for a low budget production. Also, digital allows easy ways to alter and tweak images in post. Coming to exhibition we could stay with Digital Projection which is gaining currency by the day. More and more theatres are installing state-of-the-art digital projection systems. This not only involves a huge saving on 35 mm print costs but offers pristine clean prints and full surround sound. So at no point in the production – shooting, editing, audio-post, exhibition – did we revert to analogue. HD Digital is the technology of the future and I’m proud we were among the first to embrace it.”

Anjan Dutta-r Gaan

Being from the North East means that you have strong reservations about the Bengali culture. For one thing, the culture of Bengal, including the language, has always played the role of a ‘big brother’ to the culture and language of the North-Eastern states, especially Assam. For example, we also celebrate the Durga puja, but the Bengalis will say, Durga pura is their tradition. I mean, whatever. Yet, at times you become defensive. Especially when they ask you if you are Bengali, because of your name, and your accent. They have never heard of the place called Assam.

Given this circumstances, it was utterly, utterly surprising how I fell in love with the music of Anjan Dutta, and how, I am still in love with his songs. Yes, I cannot still get over the fact that even 10 years after I first heard his 1995 album ‘Purono Guitar’, his songs still touched me, a handful of them, like Roma, Ranjana, Purono Guitar, Tumi na thakle, and the haunting Mr Hall.

Recently, when I heard his two albums, ‘Purono Guitar’ and Keu Gaan Gaye (1997), I was transported to the days when I first heard the songs, in 1998, at a friend’s place, on a cassette players. It was the time when Suman was already a hugely popular singer of the newly-developed modern Bengali music; the graph of Nachiketa Chakraborty was on the rise (I used to love his song, Tumi ki amai bhalobasho). But Anjan Dutta was something else — how he invoked the middle class milieu in a few words, and his dispassionate obsession with memory and nostalgia in songs like Purono guitar and Mr Hall, and his clear voice.

When I heard him 10 years ago, he spoke to me about my childhood, my adolescence; 10 years later, he still spoke to me with the same memories, memories I thought I have already forgotten. That’s what probably being a classic means.

His songs opened a whole new world to me: He introduced me to The Hooters in the song Mr Hall: If you miss the train I am on... and Pete Seeger in the Bengali translation of ‘Little Boxes’, and most importantly, he told how to tell about other people in poems. Unlike the abstract content of most popular songs, his songs are populated with people and their stories — the Muslim boy in love with a Hindu girl in Ranjana: “Ranjana, I’m not coming to your lane, I don't want to get my leg broken...” Roma, who decides to run away with her lover because it’s her life, not doll’s play, and the man who had travelled from Kaling Pong to Kolkata so that he can earn some money to marry his beloved Kanchan, there are many more such characters.

The Begali lyric of the song Mr Hall:
Kane baze akhono purono shai pianor jonker
Nikotine holde hoye jowa dosta angul
Sari Badhe dariya 100 miler ganta
100 bar suneO 100 ber hoto vul
Janalar baire kuyashay sada school ta
Poketer vitore adkhowa parhari fol
Hat pate bet khete hoyache tomar kache kotobar
Amar ganer suru Mr. Hall

If you miss this train I’m on
You will know that I’m gone
You can here the whistle blow
A hundred miles
A Hundred miles, A hundred miles, A hundred miles, A hundred miles,
You can here the whistle blow
A hundred miles

Sudhu ai ganta aktai gan proti shonibar
Tarikta jai hok hok ta se je kono mash
Par hoye gachi koto hajar hajar mile
Tobu thamenito konodin amader cholar chol
Tokhoto buzini boro hoya boroi shokto
Boysher sate sate kome jay chokher jol
Thame jate chay aaj kotobar amar monta
Tobu Thameni ja ami akhono Mr. Hall

Not a shirt on my bag
Not a penny to my name
Not I can’t go back home
This a way
This a way This a way This a way This a way
Not I can’t go back home
This a way

Paharer gondho amar nake chokhe
Brandir nashay tomar du’chok lal
Kokhon je chigarate thame jeto thoter fake
Tobu thame galo akdin hothat pianota tomer
Akta shonibar holona kono roll call
Suro kore deye tumi amader poth cholota
Kothay je chole gale hariya Mr. Hall

If you miss this train I’m on
You will know that I’m gone
You can here the whistle blow
A hundred miles
A hundred miles, A hundred miles, A hundred miles, A hundred miles,
You can here the whistle blow
A hundred miles

Lord I’m one Lord I’m two
Lord I’m Three Lord I’m four Lord I’m five
A hundred miles away from home
Away from home Away from home Away from home
Away from home
Lord I’m five
A hundred miles
Away from home

From Wikipedia: Anjan Dutta is a popular artist of the 1990s Bengali music scene defined by anyodharar gaan (alternative songs). Anjan Dutta's style of music is different from the others in the sense that it has simple tunes, one that is reminiscent of western folk music. His lyrics are simple and more natural. Anjan's music is somewhat influenced by blues, bluegrass, folk and country music. He is the first Bengali artist to depend more on the saxophone. He is an admitted fan of Bob Dylan and his Bengali contemporary Kabir Suman.

The Magic of Mughal-e-Azam

I’ve lost count how many times I have seen Mughal-e-Azam (1960, completes 50 years of its release this year.). If you ask me to make a list of my favourite films, K Asif’s classic may not feature there; this film, and Pakeezah too, is something else. It’s so familiar, a familiarity born out of love and respect, it’s like visiting an old friend. I have seen it in VCD, DVD, in B&W, in colour; and I am partial to the B&W print, with dash of colour towards the end, and in the Pyar Kya... song.

Film legend says after the technology of colour prints came to India while he was halfway through the film, K Asif wanted to make the movie in colour, but it was not possible due to the escalating cost. Asif’s dream turned Technicolor in 2004 when the film was colourised and re-released in theatres. I personally don’t think, colourisation changed anything; see for example, the first conversation between Salim and Anarkali, Madhubala holding the candle, which illuminates her ethereal face, when she requests the prince, please don't steal the dream from this servant girl, — in the colour version, the scene looks brighter than it should be, I guess.

Barring perhaps ‘Sholey,’ Mughal-e-Azam is the most talked-about film the Hindi film Industry has ever produced (the word Bollywood sounds so trite in this context.). So, what’s the allure of the film. In a recent newspaper article, film writer Nasreen Munni Kabir discusses the poetry of the Urdu dialogues of the film, and how four different writers came together to create an epic screenplay on which the epic film was mounted. Each line in the film resonates with poetry. For some other film, this poetic quality would have marred its appeal.

Consider this, the plot of the film is melodramatic enough, it’s a costume drama, retelling a story that everyone knows, and now, if you start sprouting poetry, it’s the perfect way to alienate your audience. But not Mughal-e-Azam. Asif’s blockbuster becomes a genre in itself. This is largely due to the acting calibre of the cast, and the earnest seriousness of the way the story is told.

For Asif, the Mughal period, and his characters, are not a vehicle to tell a love story, they are the very reason why he chose to tell the tale. Hence, when you hear the film myths like Madhubala had to wear real chains in the prison, Dilip Kumar had to wear shoes made of gold, the amount of money spent on creating the Sheesh mahal and so on, you believe in them. For Asif, it’s not storytelling, but creating the grandeur of an age gone by. And, he did not do it for historic accuracy, but to feed the mass imagination, and how he succeeds. (For example, compare the costume of B R Chopra’s Mahabharata and Shyam Benegal’s Bhatat Ek Khoj).

And the poetry: I can start the film at any moment and just listen to them: How they speak in flowery images, and with such pride. Legend says Madhubala and Dilip Kumar had an affair during the filming, hence the love scenes between them has such fire, such intensity. But, how about Prithviraj Kapoor, and Durga Khote, and Ajit.

At one level, each major characters in the film are types: proud father, loving mother, headstrong son, loyal friend, and so on, yet how the actors embody the roles, and how the screenplay foregrounds them, their types become characters themselves.

Writing about the film, on the occasion of its 50 years of release, filmmaker Imtiaz Ali (of Jab We Met, Love Aaj Kal) explains in detail how the film set the benchmark for romance in Hindi films. This is true: The types fleshed out in Mughal-e-Azam becomes archetypes, something to be replicated tirelessly. For example, the oppressive father, the final hurdle in the romance, and so on.

Another prominent archetype that the film creates is the role played by Ajit (who later become popular as “Sara Shehar mujhe Lion ke naam se janta hai”), Durjan Singh. He is a loyal friend, who may not agree with the prince’s choice of consort, but will protect her for his prince, even at the risk of his life. Ajit gets the chance to boast about the Rajput blood, another motif used endlessly in Hindi films. It was thanks to the charm, strength and contrast that Ajit’s character provided, we made the role of the hero’s friend a permanent fixture. Here are the ground rules: He has to be from a different religion from the hero. He must have his faith and convictions, but also should have unflinchingly loyal. Finally, before the film ends, he must die. The best example comes to mind is the Chunkey Pandey character in ‘Tezaab’; he gets the best song, and all the sympathies.

And the dialogues. Oh, the dialogues. The candle scene I mentioned earlier. The conversation after the qawwali, when Salim offers the twig of the flower to Anarkali, and she says, my luck, the thorn does not fear of withering away (katon ko murhjane ki khauf nahi hota). The showdown between father and son: “Tumhe Anarkali ko bhulna hoga.” And finally, Anarkali’s final sacrifice. She wants to be the malikah of Hindustan for a day, because the prince wanted so. She faces Akbar like an equal, she’s no longer scared: She says: “Ab janaze ko rukshat ki ijazat de,” and says: “And for all the goodwill, this servant girl forgives the emperor for her murder.” The emperor had found his match.

And the dramatic setpieces. The balance of justice. The human statue. The Pyar kya to darna kya song and Madhubala’s reflection on the glass pieces. The war. And my favourite scene: Akbar is informed that Salim is spending time with a servant girl. He enters the palace. As his name is announced, Anarkali is scared. She tries to run and hide. As Anarkali tries to run, she comes face to face with the emperor. She turns and runs towards Salim. She flings herself into Salim, as if she would enter into his heart and hide there forever. But the shock is too much, and she loses consciousness. As she falls, the pearl string breaks and the pearls the prince was wearing scatter all over. Someone’s heart breaks at that precise moment. Whose heart? Whose heart?

And, Jab raat hai itni matwali...to subah ka alam kya hoga// When the night is so intoxicating, what will the morning bring...//

Distance Learning & Quality Issues

By Mrs Aarti Dhar

Distance Learning has arrived. It’s in! It’s happening! Reasons may be varied – an ever-growing market, increasing reach and access, growing revenues, corporate clients or the ever-expanding student population.

Technological advancements have made alternative modes of education an all pervasive phenomena. Along with regular institutions, adding distance learning programmes, special centres and schools of learning are being established precisely for this purpose. Corporate houses are joining hands with institutions and academic colleges to bring learning to the workplace. Multiple resources are being tapped for the benefit of professionals as well as students. Witnessing all this frenzied activity, one cannot help but wonder about the quality of the education or learning being delivered.

There are certain commonalties between traditional education and distance learning, viz. electronic communication, computer workstations, archived material, libraries and databases, hence many issues are relevant and common to both. Any centre offering distance learning facility increases its scope and scale to render services for various segments of students. On the other hand, students studying in a particular school of learning on a regular basis can also enroll for special courses in other institutions.

Any institution providing distance learning must be clear about its educational and academic objectives, of all its programmes offered, their relevance to their targeted audience on the basis of needs — regional, national and global. To accomplish all this, initiatives need to be considered to set up and maintain quality objectives, policies and infrastructure. A fair amount of thought has to be given to faculty development in order to make them efficient distance educators, and for inculcation in them of the effective methods of teaching; this, however, requires not only a plethora of team workers, computer technicians, counselors, administrators and other support personnel as librarians, etc but financial resources and logistical support also are to be taken care of. We cannot underestimate the material and human investment in organising and managing all this paraphernalia.

Economic benefit should not be the only driving force as it may or may not occur at all. Challenges can keep growing with increasing enrollments which may call for infrastructural expansion, hence it is sensible to have a realistic and practical approach. Casting a glance at other comparable institutions and centres of learning is one way; another is to work out the 'what to’ of practices and devices and 'how to’ of finance management.

Relevant parties can be requested for regular inflow of information and guidance as this solicitation can prove beneficial in programme planning, execution, evaluation, maintenance and improvisation of services offered. There is a need to ensure quality of learning delivered by distance mode as there aren’t many prescriptions around.
There are two parties in question — one that designs the curriculum and the other that is the reviewers or quality checkers ensuring certain parameters for the education provided. Distance learning is a learning system where the learner works alone or in a group guided by study material provided by the school of learning, away from its campus.

IGNOU is one such example; however, it calls for additional motivation and discipline on part of the student as there is little direct contact or support from the organisation. However, such learning can be combined with communication devices such as text computing methods, audio, video or telephonic contacts with instructors concerned. Video conferencing is another instant way where students can work at ease at their own pace and time. There can be multiple dimensions as far as interaction with instructors is concerned. A classroom presentation video can be witnessed by a group in an office; a CD ROM may also provide a learning task. The prerogative of utilising different educational technologies and methods rests with the parent campus to serve different segments. This learning device (distance education) breaks all geographical barriers, confinement, employment constraints, as well as disability; however its quality must be comparable with the one available on campus curriculum.

At the very outset, students must be given a clear idea about requirements of admission, process of registration, payment policies, and facilities of counseling, tutoring and placement. They should, at the time of enrolment, be told about performance expectations, deadlines, attendance and the calendar of events. Students should be encouraged to take initiative in asking questions and reaching out for help and guidance. Hotlines are a good option for round-the-clock access to academic and administrative assistance. Details about inter-student and student-teacher interaction should be worked out to fulfill course requirements, collaborative group learning activities and effective participation. Technology offered by the institution must support all this.

The Faculty and its Role:
The mode of learning is not teaching-centred and this has to be kept in mind. Hence, the faculty team has some challenging jobs to perform in creation of course objectives, learning material, assessment of learning and student performance, calling for high quality facilitators comprising the team. Qualifications and experience are essential components of creating high quality distance educators and instructors. Such facilitators have to concentrate on organisation and delivery of relevant information. Faculty commitment becomes vital in such a context and appointing some experienced specialised faculty respected by the peers can do the trick. They can form a nucleus and specific cadre and assist and guide development of the rest of the faculty team. The role of faculty in this set up is very different from the traditional role faculty plays — that is of instruction and teaching. In this set up, the job requires organising relevant learning material according to the course demands in the areas of content and mission, creating such a material, delivery of it and learning evaluation. Effective means and methods can be worked out by the faculty together, in brainstorming sessions and inter faculty discussion sessions. Faculty should be encouraged to create an institutional culture as it can have long term beneficial effects. New technical and pedagogy skills should be honed by the faculty members as a part of a well thought out strategy.
Definite process for management of faculty and its development as well as structuring out a reward system, are sensible ideas keeping in mind the institutional culture, learning specifications and technology available, faculty should be assigned specific roles and their interaction should be encouraged. All the resources and management should be in sync with the mission and the goal set. Hence, it makes sense to work out strategies for recruitment, motivation, development, monitoring and rewarding of faculty and making the team realise the significance of the relevance and ‘newness’ of course content. For special programmes, special faculty and design can be formulated.

Regarding course content clarity is the watchword. What is to be taught and how is all important. Once objectives are made clear, modalities best suited to the purpose can be worked out. Help of experts and specialists can be sought in specific areas. Substantial meaningful learning content must be created and delivered as well as scientific way of assessment has to be implied and developed. Innovations and improvements must be encouraged. Student accessibility is also a very important factor.

The learning mode requires careful deliberation. Group or individual learning whichever suits the purpose can be adopted, a group can be collected at a given place and time by the instructor and more personalised arrangements with tutors, outside the group meeting time, can be arranged for.

Elements in the working of the Distance Learning System:
Once the mode of learning is decided, specialised system can be developed. Technology can be one of its tools; it may or may not be the latest keeping in mind suitability and cost effectiveness. Again the mantra is – the need of the programme. However, whatever is chosen should be flexible enough to adjust to any changes in circumstance and technology employed should be manoeuvrable, worthy of being monitored, and reviewable.

Evaluation and assessment methodology is pivotal in such a set up in the long run affecting the student-behaviour, results and revenue. Assessment mode may include project assessments personal interaction and formal testing but also should be summative encouraging and comparable with conventional programs. Since student responsibility is more in such a mode of learning timing of evaluation should be made clear to all students at the very outset. Careful attention must be paid to resources with possible issues kept in mind with strategies to deal with them. Sufficient resources should be primarily considered in basic planning policy formulation and budgeting. They should suffice for faculty training library and computing services student orientation and training, all kinds of technical assistance, registration, counseling, and delivery system of course material and evaluation. Efficient support services administrative and technical with a clear responsibility chain and clearly defined mutual expectations must be developed.
To sum up, to maintain quality in distance learning goals and learning objectives must be well-defined, curriculum should be well-designed, faculty on board must be accordingly chosen and trained, available technology should be used optimally, careful attention paid to development and delivery of the learning material, proper assessment procedures, institutional commitment to the cause and adequate technological support are all keys to qualitative and successful distance learning, which has arrived in full steam and is here to stay.

What is most important is the academic, cultural and linguistic diversity of a large country like India what may be one man’s medicine may prove to be another man’s poison. What is suitable for Tamil Nadu may be of no use to Bihar at all, hence under all circumstances courses should be tailor made for their audience and not blindly designed after popular western or even other Indian distance learning centres or else they will fail to serve any purpose.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Agawam D, History and Scope of Distance Education, Sarup Publications, 2007.
Husain, Distance Education: Theory and Practice, Anmol Publishers. 2007.
Matheswaran, V.P, Distance Education: Student Support Services, Anmol Publishers, 2005.
Prasad Deepesh Chandra, Distance Education, KSK Publications. 2007.
Puri Usha, Distance Education, Pragun Publishers, 2006.
Reddy Adityanarayan, Continuing Education for Globalized Era, Sonali Publishers, 2007.
Sharma, Dinesh Chander, Management of Distance Education, Anmol Publishers, 2005.
Sharma Madhulika, Distance Education: Concepts and Principles, Kanishka Publishers, 2006.
Siddiqui Mujibul Hasan, Distance Education: Theory and Research, APH Publishers, 2007.

On ‘honor killing’

By Abhijatya Dhar

Honour Killing. The term is heard often these days on radio and television, even at the coffee houses. Lot of newsprint has been utilised to discuss the subject. But, what exactly is honour killing?
Of late, there has been news from various parts of the country about parents killing their children, brothers killing their sisters, grandparents contemplating on these lines... Strange and gory though it may sound, it’s happening.
Honour killing is the murder of a man or a woman by a kin because of the belief that he or she has brought dishonour to the family or community. By committing this crime, the murderer believes he is restoring the family honour, which was lost or tainted by the actions of the victim.
The literal meaning of honour is ‘great respect’ or ‘a clear sense of what is morally right.’ What has to be kept in mind here is that the sense of rightness and wrongness keep changing from time to time in the dynamic human society.
Some couples, who fell in love and got hitched against the wishes of their family were killed by their relatives. This inhuman act, which displayed an intolerant and bigoted mindset has been termed ‘honour killing’ which is just a euphemism; the underlying or the resounding message being, conforming to rigid codes of conduct as always, is the way to lead life. Any deviation means loss of the right to live. These incidents have only shown that the families have given vent to anger and disapproval in the most inhuman or you can say, barbaric way and they were all calculated actions inspired by firm belief of adherence to caste, community, religion and family norms. This may socially be sanctioned by caste panchayats (sati, dowry) but it remains unacceptable in any civilised human society. Though the number of love marriages has gone up in metros but in villages and small towns, the scene is totally different.
As of now, there are no specific laws to deal with the so called honour killings. The issues that arise are:
1. is honour killing just a fancy nomenclature to justify heinous acts of murder?
2. has human society become self-destructive?
3. with parents killing children and siblings killing each other, is it indicative of a greater psychological disorder, perhaps asking for research or probe and psychiatric help?
4. our country has a definite constitution with specific laws. Where are they? Can human murders by their own family members be justified ever in 21st century where honour is mixed with false ego and bigotry?
5. is this going to catch on and start a trend as a forest fire or can it be arrested in good time by severe actions, remains to be seen.
In my opinion, it is false pride, ego and beastly instinct of man coming to forefront under the excuse of restoration of honour which requires active policing, series of penal sanctions and severe punishments which are the only logical antidotes to arrest the cancerous growth in the human society and its psyche before it becomes an epidemic. At its very base, it remains a violent, irrational, heinous and inhuman crime. In other words it is just plain, cold-blooded murder and should be dealt with in the courts of law as the same.

How obscene is the word f**k

I have always maintained that if you compare visual story-telling in terms of literary story-telling, films would be short stories whereas a TV series would be a novel. This is probably more true in case of the American TV series ‘The Wire,’ which ran for five seasons from 2002 to 2008. It has been daubed as the greatest TV series ever produced in America, and it’s not difficult to see why — it’s a sprawling saga set in Baltimore, Maryland.

It started as a cop drama, as detective McNulty goes to investigate the case of a shrewed and almost invisible drug lord Avon Barksdale. Soon, it turns out to be something else, as more and more characters apear, all individuals and all with their sets of problems. The success of the show lies in its ability to make its audience care about the characters, even the traditionally bad ones, without resorting to melodrama. The narrrative is firmly rooted in reality, and is told in a crisp, cut-and-dry manner, presented in bold strokes. There’s nothing unnecessary in this long drama.

The Wire achieves its realism, apart from its locale and the character actors, in the language the characters use, full of slang and filled with immediate metaphors, meaning, characters invent their languages; the drug dealers speak in a sort of urban Creole, whereas the police speak in a language peppered with the word fuck.

I remember, a few years ago, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction was banned in India, the reason being the excess use of the F-word. It was later released in theatres, albeit with a beep everytime someone says F***. But, compared the soundtrack of The Wire, Plup Fiction sounds like an innocent exercise. Normally, fuck is used to underscore abuse and anger, something unpleasant. In The Wire, the word is used with such frequency and in such varied context, especially by the police characters, that after a while the word loses its power. It stops being vulgar. This is interesting, especially when we are talking about a TV serial.

Too much reliance on a particular ‘thing’ ultimately dilutes its effect; if you eat too many sweets, you develop a bitter test.

Take for example, this scene from an episode from the first season: Homicide detectives Jimmy McNulty and Bunk goes to investigate a crime scene. This is a routine procedure and they are not very excited about it, until they discover that there’s something fishy about how the murder was committed. This is not a revelation for the audience. We already know how the murder took place. In the long scene, as the detectives discover the new evidence, the only word they utter is fuck: “Fuck, fuck, fuck, Fuckety fuck...” In the process, the emphasis that the word lends in a conversation is lost, and acquires a new meaning. Here fuck becomes a shorthand to express surprise and incredulity, and all the sexual connotations neatly drained out.

Whoever leans a new language, not in a classroom, but on the streets, will tell you how the first words you learn in the new language are the abuse words, specifically, slangs about the private parts of man and woman: When I came to Pune from Assam, the first word I learned is the street name of a woman’s vagina.

In Assam, during my growing-up years, we were obsessed with the man’s private part: We called it ‘kela’, the banana; it does not need explanation, and the pubic hair, we called it baal, the word hair in Hindi, but with a stretched accent. In those days, how you used those two words showed the level of friendship. If a friend does not talk to me while peppering his sentences with either kala or baal, I would feel slighted; I would come to think that he is not my real friend. You see the connection. The sexual connotation of the word turns into something else, a code word for camaraderie. This is especially truth when we know that the words we are using are so-called obscene, and banned in society; this gives us a high, doing something that society does not approve. That’s what growing up is all about, doing things that others don’t approve of.

The Wikipedia entry on Fuck

The Girl... And Her Problems

According to a recent study, Sweden is world’s fourth happiest country (India is at lowly 115.). You see the three films based on the popular Millennium trilogy — The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest — and you will hardly meet anyone who is happy (Except probably a couple who appears briefly, cycling happily in the city of Stockholm, before they are brutally murdered in the next scene, in the second film!), and especially the girl in question.

The so-called Millennium trilogy is ‘the’ magical publishing phenomenon, post Harry Potter. There was this journalist — Stieg Larsson — who used to write, if nothing else, for his own amusement. One day he died, and they found three unpublished manuscripts, and several unfinished ones; Larsson wanted to write a 10-book series. The first book came out in the English-speaking world as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2005 (The original title in Swedish means 'Men Who Hate Women,' which is actually more appropriate given the content of the plot.). It became a huge hit, selling millions of copies, winning awards. The Fire book followed, and the last one — The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest — to complete the trilogy. Millennium is the name of the newsmagazine where one of the main protagonists, Mikael Blomkvist, works.

I have not read the books. I have seen them, they are huge, tomes. But I saw the films. The word is riveting. If I have to tell you how the films are, I can only tell you that they can stand next to ‘The Secret In Their Eyes,’ the Argentine film, winner of the Oscar for best foreign language film last year.

The focus of the story is Lisbeth Salandar, the Girl of the title, super hacker, with a photographic memory, good survival skills and no social life, and also a trouble magnet. On the other side is the journalist Blomkvist, idealist, committed, with a sense of righteousness, and probably in love with Lisbeth.

The comparison to The Secret In Their Eyes, especially the first film, is more than apt at different levels. Both the films are thrillers in the traditional sense and yet both infuse a kind of energy and freshness that goes beyond the thrills. At the core of both the films is a crime against woman — a woman murdered and a girl gone missing — and both deal with investigation by someone who is neither a policeman or a private eye. Most importantly, both the films have protagonists that have lives of their own, aside from the case they are investigating. The comparisons ends here. While the Argentine film was more taut and ambitious and focused, the Millennium trilogy is sprawling, moving between past and present and introducing characters as the story moves along.

Critics have complained that the last two installment of the trilogy is not as good as the first one, and you agree. For one thing, the layers, the complexity and subtlety of the first film is missing in the latter two, as we come to understand the characters of Lisbeth and Blomkvist.

Again, the first film tells three stories, that of Lisbeth, of Blomkvist and the story of Harriet Vanger. Once the case is solved in the first film, the narrative of the Millennium trilogy plunges headlong into the tragic life, death and life of the heroine Lisbeth Salandar, at the expense of sidelining the other major character, Blomkvist. The journalist is still there, but acts mostly as an audience point of view, or a plot device to push Lisbeth’s story ahead. Her story is not uninteresting, but you had hoped for more.

When she was 12 Lisbeth had tried to burn her father (a Russian spy hiding in Sweden; relic of the cold war era, and epitome of all the complexities it involved) because he abused her mother. The father, using his influence, put Lisbeth into a mental hospital in Uppsala where she may have been abused by the doctor. When she leaves the hospital, she is certified to be someone who cannot control her life and is put under a guardianship. The latest one turns out to be a monsters, who rapes her (how Lisbeth suffers the ordeal and takes her revenge constitute an interesting subplot in the first film.). As the film opens, she works as a hacker for a security firm, and probably have an affair with another girl (Her sexuality is a mystery, and how Noomi Rapace plays her with rings, tattoos and an excessive love for gothic, anything is possible. She looks fragile but conducts her in such a way that you will not want to mess with her). In the firm, one of her research subject appears to be Blomkvist, who is going through a libel case for printing against a businessman. Then Blomkvist gets a case to solve a forty year old missing person case, and as he get immersed in the case, Lisbeth becomes interested in Blomkvist and his research. (I must not say anything more lest I violate the spoiler code.) Finally, they join hands to unearth a series of murders and becomes occasional lover. As the film ends, Lisbeth disappears.

It was a perfect ending. We did not need a sequel. But the sequels came, in quick succession: Lisbeth returns to Sweden after an year or so, and there are lot of people who wants her dead. She goes underground, and then she becomes a suspect for three murders, including a colleague of Blomkvist’s. But Blomkvist believes Lisbeth is innocent and tries to help her. But Lisbeth does not need help, she can take care of her own business. Not really — she finally meets her father and a half-brother who try to bury her alive, and in a scene reminiscence of Kill Bill Vol 2, she returns from the dead.

The third movie deals with the aftermath. Lisbeth is hospitalised and she is tried for an attempt to murder her father. The focus now shifts to Lisbeth’s father, his past and his dealings with a secret society in Sweden, and things go murkier.

The Dragon Tattoo became so popular that they are now making a Hollywood remake, to be directed by David Fincher of Fight Club, with Daniel Craig as Blomkvist. Writing about the remake Salon.com critics Andrew O’hehir commented on why the film may not work as an American story: The story here is not just a story, beneath it is the historical subtext, the politics of patriarchy, the politics of socialism, the residues of the cold war era, and the ethics of how an individual lives a public live. The truth for Sweden may not be same as US of A.

What Dreams May Come

Now that we have all seen Christopher Nolan’s Inception, let’s criticise the movie. My friends won’t like it. When you have enjoyed the film, why to criticise it, they say. Yes, I enjoyed the experience. I loved the movie. And, I think, this is the reason enough to criticise it. As someone said every film worth seeing is worth discussing. Hence, the discussion.

First, a hypothetical question: As you visit the different levels of the dream world Nolan has opened before us, you cannot help but wonder what the film would have looked like if it was directed by someone else, someone with a real flair for dreams, like Federico Felini (Eight-and-a-half, Juliet of the Spirits), Andrei Tarkovsky (Stalker, Solaris, Mirrors), Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, The Mystic Mountain), David Lynch (all his films), or even Terry Gilliam (12 Monkeys, even a confused film like Dr Parnassus) and Tim Burton (Beetlejuice?)...

You cannot answer this question. But one thing is certain, it would have been more haphazard, more chaotic and more bursting with energy, like a dream proper, without a beginning and an ending (As Dom Cobb says himself, you can never remember the beginning of a dream.)

The dreamworld Nolan mounts, on the other hand, is marked by clinical precision. It is governed by rules of logic and mathematics, not imagination. Imagination may not be Nolan’s strong point, but logic certainly is. He’s precise about the steps, the flow of the story, sometime (probably most of the time) at the expense of emotion. Look at his breakout film Memento: Someone who knows and understand minute by minute plot details could write this script. And it was brilliant beyond doubt. That was then; now you know for Nolan, films are puzzles, like those Chinese boxes, like those jigsaws, which at the end, must fit neatly, even in a dream. (Remember The Prestige, and Michael Caine’s character explaining the three stages of a magic trick?) Nolan is interested in the stages, no more, no less. Thus, in the end, Inception turns out to be an exercise in precision and logic, rather than simple storytelling.

Question two: Are dream and memory same? Mr Freud, where are you? I think not. Memory is at the least based on something tangible, something that was once experienced. The original experience may not be the same as the memory, memory has the power to manipulate the experience, but the core is still something that was once real. Dream, on the other hand, is a memory created by the mind. It does not have any bearing to reality in any way. Dreams may be inspired by memory, but memories can transcend into dream. In Inception, Cobb thinking about his children (he cannot, does not, remember their faces) is a memory, not a dream. In a dream, Cobb can always conjure up the faces. I think, somewhere in the mumbo jumbo of going into the subconscious, deeper and deeper, and creating the architecture of these, Inception fails to recognise the difference between dream and memory. Secrets do not lie in the dreams, they lie in the memory... Okay, okay, all these are psychoanalytical hotchpotch, and we are talking about a blockbuster, for dream’s sake.

Critics have complained that there’s not much of a story in Inception; everything is a ploy to get into the CGI and action set-pieces, which are definitely world class, the city folding itself, the gravity-defying fights, and the van forever falling off the bridge, but there’s story too, and there are layers of it. What happens in the first 15 minutes, with Cobb trying to steal Saito’s secret is played two-fold and in reverse in case of Robert Fisher. Very Good. And, what Cobb and the team is trying to do with Mr Fisher is foiled by Cobb’s memory of what he did to his wife Mal. Great. And then something happened. Action took over. In the fascination to play the stages of going deeper into subconscious, Inception lost track of the narrative and its emotional exuberance. Mal, Cobb’s long lost wife, who appears uninvited and always at the wrong time, was supposed to be the central motif of the film, and Marion Colitard looks ravishing whenever she appears in screen, to bring home the idea that in dream world you cannot plan everything. But, at the end, she remained a wronged woman, and lost forever.

And, I am not even discussing the twist ending, a cliff-hanger, which at best was unnecessary, and at worse meaningless.

Question. What is more important, the players or the playground? In the world of Inception, it’s the playground that hogs the limelight; it’s a shame really when you had the such talented actors on board, including Michael Caine in a thankless role. Nobody gets the chance to show their talent, though you have to give to Nolan, all the characters, including Ken Watanabe’s Saito get equal screen time. The character of Ariadne is introduced just to be the audience point-of-view, so that she can ask the right question at the right time and give the screenwrite chance come up with some psycho mumbo jumbo. “Whose subconscious are we going in anyway?” Do we really care? Everyone’s seem to be the same.

Is Inception a masterpiece? In a blockbuster universe, yes, it is, the way Avatar is a masterpiece. For more, let’s wait for another 10 years. Nonetheless, it’s a fun ride in the theatre, but nit-picking about it is certainly more fun.