Life Of Pi- The New Slumdog Millionaire?

From a first glance in the spectacular-looking trailers, Ang Lee’s latest offering, the much awaited ‘Life Of Pi’ looks like a film more in the domain of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. The entire film is focused on the travails of a young Indian boy caught in a raft with a splendid Bengal tiger. Sure, the tiger’s roars, lunges and snarls look real enough. But it surely looks too splendid to be real- which means that we are in for some stunning CGI work. It helps that the film will be rendered with the third dimension as well. The goliaths so far like Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Spielberg, Jackson and James Cameron can take a bow for Lee in his first-ever 3D venture.

But a closer look at the scenes and a superficial look at the story reveals something else.  The cast of ‘Life Of Pi’ stars Irrfan Khan, Tabu and a young Indian boy by the name of Suraj Sharma, on whom most of the action centers. Then, isn’t it about a man narrating his tumultuous and perilous adventures of the youth? Ring any bells? In an uncanny way, this sounds more like a retread of Danny Boyle’s much-acclaimed and awarded ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

Sure, the two films differ in tone and context. Boyle’s film was a seriously messed-up fairytale fashioned with gritty visuals of the dirty and dingy world of Mumbai’s slums and bylanes and set to a killer score by AR. Rahman. Lee’s film comes off more like a fairytale in the conventional sense. The 3D element itself suggests that we are in for some thrilling and stunning set-pieces with the animals involved in the film and that beautiful tiger will be worth-watching. But it is hard to say whether this would actually make sense. ‘Life Of Pi’ essentially looks nothing less than a Spielberg production. Lee’s real touches would possibly lie in how he builds the relationships between his characters, both human and animal.

But there is a definite similarity. Both the films are about characters, who have spent their youth and childhood in adventures that normal people would not believe in. Both the films are about such people narrating their stories to incredulous and unbelieving people and audiences. At heart, both films serve as a pompous celebration of the ordinary person. Which obviously means that like Boyle, Lee will be displaying some emotionally manipulative filmmaking, while not cutting for realism unlike Boyle.

Credit would obviously go to the writers of the stories of both films. On one hand, Yann Martel’s elegant, clever and heartfelt prose would accompany Lee’s grandiose visuals. On the other hand, there is noted diplomat Vikas Swarup painting a picture of India lying at the bottom of the heap yet showering it with a fanatical Indo-nostalgic approach, showing us a ringside of crime, films and more. This could alone mean that Lee’s wondrous approach will be more fulfilling than Boyle’s hackneyed though impressively grimy treatment of the convoluted and clichéd material.

But the similarity would extend beyond that. Both films are a part of the film-making scene centering on India as a background for exotic and real stories. There have been notable films in the past which have centered on India but some of them have landed up in controversy. 1982’s ‘Gandhi’ and 1984’s ‘A Passage To India’ were primarily British films set in the era of the British colonialism in the country. The former won a lot of praise and acclaim, while the latter was warmly received by those who had pored over the eponymous E.M Forster novel. And likes of John Huston and the Merchant-Ivory pair made films based on famous English novels as well.

But there have been some outrageous exceptions. In 1983, the Bond film ‘Octopussy’ was shot largely in India but as critics and Indians opined the film is ridden with stereotypes normally associated with India- superstitions, snakes, thugs, Indian princes, elephants and palaces. In 1984, Steven Spielberg gave us the hilarious actioner ‘The Temple Of Doom’, also with India as the backdrop but the director was forced to shift places. The government bureaucrats refused to permit Steve as they found the script full of clichés and ’offensive’ references to Indian culture and cuisine- for instance, Indian princes feasting on snakes, monkey heads and bugs as well.

Such criticisms do not matter as long the film is pure fantasy- as in both the cases. But when a film set in the real world, for instance the rundown slums and ghettoes of Mumbai ends up being flawed and stereotyped in its approach, hackles can be raised. This was what happened to Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Personalities like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Rushdie and others openly pointed out the flaws which clearly indicate that foreign filmmakers seldom do their homework when it comes to India. And this hurts when Boyle guns for so much realism in his portrayal of India.

Lee himself had declared that he considers it wrong for foreign filmmakers to miss out the realism in their films about exotic lands like India. But Lee shares the similarity with some of the recent talent in Hollywood. Like Boyle, Christopher Nolan, Sam Mendes and Mexican filmmakers like Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron, Lee is one of the crossovers from foreign nations like UK, Mexico and Taiwan. Like them, Lee had divided his priorities between films of his own country and films exploring the American scenario. But what would Lee do with India? Given that the film would be fantasy, people should not mind if they do find some stereotypes. But don’t we want foreign filmmakers to avoid clichés and portray as the same way they do to other countries?

Jab Tak Hai Jaan- The Monumental Marvel

            

In a way similar to that of Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg and even recent Christopher Nolan, Yash Chopra’s penultimate film is all about being larger-than-life, the director gunning for nothing less than the Big Picture. From the opening shot tracking Shahrukh Khan’s dashing Major Samar Anand riding a muscular Enfield bike on the highways of Ladakh accompanied by warm-as-milk-and-honey poetry and A.R. Rahman’s elegant yet energetic background score ratcheting up to a compelling guitar piece, to the entry of gorgeous lady Katrina Kaif into the screens, sprinting in slow motion decked out in a red jacket over a glittering lehenga while powdery snow rains from the skies, to stunning songs, laughter and tears set across operatic landscapes of London and Ladakh, this is pure sensation- albeit a film which has Yash Chopra’s trademark signature emblazoned unabashedly across every frame.

It is the simple story of Samar and his intense love for the irresistibly fickle Meera (Kaif) and how this love has to go through challenges and obstacles to actually come alive. As if to justify the film’s exhilarating if ponderous scope, Chopra and his writers remind us for more than once that every love has a time and maybe it is not yet the time for their love to actually blossom.

Yet. Yet. Sometimes, it is best to leave disbelief and cynicism at the door and surrender completely to the fatal charms of a really skilled puppet-master. That is of course Yash Chopra giving us a really masterly puppet act that remains compelling throughout even when not convincing. With a practiced hand, Chopra twirls and flicks around the puppets under his hand, eliciting us to react with joy, euphoria or even pain and despair rather than asking him ‘Why’?

It is storytelling at its most confident, perhaps even most manipulative. But Chopra has always been known for making his puppets more than just frames of wood and cloth- real people facing real pain, joy and heartache. Consider the way how he treats the heroines of ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’. Meera is a fickle-minded girl, euphoric at breaking out of her inhibitions, yet strongly and vehemently clinging to her scruples. In ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’, Chopra shines a light of adoration and affection on his heroine- showcasing her drop-dead beauty, her ebullience yet also her vulnerability and her predicament. It is a master-stroke of storytelling, lending the film intimacy and warmth.

It is not just Meera that showcases the same restless spirit as the heroines of Chopra’s last films. ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ is essentially a love triangle and Chopra’s warmth and heartfelt affection spreads to the other two dimensions as well. In Anushka Sharma’s buoyant and exuberant docu-filmmaker Akira, Chopra shows us another compelling heroine, free from clichés and yet exuding the same essence of liberation and free will. In Samar’s multiple facets- one as a good-natured odd-jobs lover-boy waltzing alternately with Meera and his guitar, the other as the stubbled and laconic defuse expert earning the name ‘The Man Who Cannot Die’- he gives us a classic Yash Chopra hero, endowed with solid virtues and with enough chinks in his armor to nail him as both heroic and real.

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Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ may not be as smooth as Chopra’s perennially unforgettable romances of the past but it is in many ways a solid showcase of Chopra’s obvious strength as a storyteller and filmmaker. The film is helmed with a iron-fisted determination and confidence- the director masterfully flipping from one locations, milieus and moods to create a story that leaps through the contrivances with a spirited sprint. Things do slow down a bit when Chopra wants his twists and turns to sink in our minds but this is only a minor niggle. Chopra’s storytelling has a trance-like feel to it- the film is firmly assured of performing miracles and roping us in through sheer magic.

In some striking ways ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ is a smart mix of the old and the new- the director crucially underscoring his trademark elements with nicely subtle yet distinctive touches of post-modernism. The romance that develops between Meera and Samar is full of verve- a particularly pumped up dance sequence set superbly in London’s pop-and-rock underbelly lends the angle flesh-and-blood while the sexual and intimate frissom between the leads is explored fearlessly, but not explicitly. The parallel track- of defusing bombs in Ladakh- is treated with an alternately light and tense fashion but Chopra cleverly keeps politics out of the fray. The scenes filmed in London refute the sights usually shown to us. Instead, they shine with a resplendent feel to them. There are enough co-incidences in the premise to make us disbelieve in everything but Chopra is bold enough to ask- ‘Why Not?’. And Chopra has made it believable to an extent- his gift for nuance shining particularly in an overlooked scene when kids rush into a street that had been moments earlier sealed off for the fear of an explosion.

Yet, for all its beauty and nuance and Chopra jazzing up his trademark elements with sensuality, groove and humor, it is a flawed, if terrifically sensational, piece of work, in no small measure due to the script by Aditya Chopra and Devika Bhagat. Sure, the transitions in time, memory and space are effortlessly sweeping, but the film’s twists and turns are a bit too intentional, perhaps why the film ends up losing its logic. Also, the romantic angle is at times forsaken for hefty, though intriguing ideas and one nostalgia trip too many. Nonetheless, Chopra’s grip on the emotions is quite tough and he makes us forget the glitches eventually.

The dialogue, on the other hand, is powerful- blending the old-world charm of quotable monologues and sparky romantic conversations in vogue today. And the cast is actually good, though it is little beyond the troika. While Kaif’s Meera deserves a better performance, the gorgeous actress nevertheless does what she does best-look not just good but stunning. Clearly, here is a heroine to gape at, to admire and to desire. Sharma, in contrast, infuses her spunky part with enough enthusiasm and also achieves that fine balance between being irritating and charming. But clearly this is a two-men show, and if one is Chopra, the other has to be his quintessential hero. In what can be called one of his best performances ever, Khan has managed to bring life and soul to Samar. The actor wonderfully flips between good-natured charm, a raffish sense of humor and solid conviction that makes him a hero to root for.

A.R. Rahman’s music, with Gulzar’s unconventional wordplay, is a lovely ensemble of diverse compositions which further make the film a real audio-visual treat. Anil Mehta’s cinematography, after his beautiful work in ‘Rockstar’, perfectly complements Chopra’s dreamy style and creates spectacular moments of high drama, romance and nostalgia, which linger in your mind.

As a wrapped up gift for die-hard romantics, ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ is a monumental marvel clocking in at 3 hours. It is all a bit too filmy to be actually real or even believable but there is something about losing your heart to the sheer magic of Chopra’s storytelling. And with his last film, at 80, he proved that he can still pull it off.

My Rating- 4 Stars.