….
Jesse: Most people, you know, a lot of people talk about the past lives, and things like that, you know, and even if they don’t believe in it in some specific way, you know, people have some kind of notion of an eternal soul, right.

Céline: Yeah.

Jesse: Okay. Well, this is my thought. 50,000 years ago, there are not even a million people on the planet. 10,000 years ago, there’s like 2,000,000 people on the planet. Now, there’s between 5 and 6 billion people on the planet, right? Now, if we all have our own, like, individual, unique soul, right, where do they all come from? Are modern souls only a fraction of the original souls? Because if they are, that represents a 5,000-to-1 split of each soul in just the last 50,000 years, which is like a blip in the earth’s time. You know, so, at best, we’re like these tiny fractions of people, you know, walking… I mean, is that why we’re all so scattered? You know, Is that why we’re all so specialized?

Céline: Wait a minute, I’m not sure I … I don’t…

Jesse: Hang on, I know, I know, it’s a totally scattered thought, which is kind of why it makes sense. ..

From ‘Before Sunrise’…Celine & Jesse…

Interesting thought….

525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes - how do you measure,measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?

- Seasons of Love - Music from the Motion Picture RENT

(from a friend’s blog)

Satyam Cinemas in Chennai are bringing for the first time in India a ‘Blind Movie’. This is a concept where you go into the hall not knowing the movie name. I think this is the first time I have heard this implemented in India.

I was a very regular follower of this concept when I was in Munich. There it was called ‘Sneak Preview’. The only thing we knew was that it would be a new movie premiered for the first time.

I guess I have had 75% success in this way. 25% of the movies have been real rotten. But it is a real cool thing to do. The anticipation of knowing what movie it is, is something really cool.

I dont think any of the Bangalore theatres have started this concept. I think given the number of vela people in Bangalore, I am sure this will find enough takers.

Is anyone listening???

I havent blogged for a week now. I guess sometimes you need to earn your living and work. But it was more of having nothing to really say.

Anyway, I saw this movie ‘Before Sunrise’ which came out in 1995. The sequel ‘Before Sunset’ has just come out last month. This is about an American guy and a French girl who meet on a train in Europe. The guy is returning to the US the next day morning and he requests her to accompany him in Vienna for his last night in Europe. In the end, they promise to meet at the same platform after six months without exchanging numbers or addresses.

The thing about this movie was the chemistry between the actors. In some sense, this movie is almost like a documentary with most of the movie being dialogues between these 2 and almost no other characters. But the screenplay is so good that you can sense the romance growing as the night goes along.

I think creating such chemistry on screen is so difficult. I think it is becoming rare to see such sensitive movies be it Indian or Hollywood. They used to say that about Amitabh & Rekha.

Most movies today are a reflection of the society as it is today - fast, no time for anything. Even romance has become a fast moving one. The Karan Johar genre of movies reflects what I believe the situation in todays society…(as they say in Kal Ho Na Ho…che dhin mein ladki in….) It’s finally SRK’s charisma which wins.

The beauty of this movie lies in the leisured manner in which these 2 characters get to know each other. They touch upon so many different topics that it is so very believable.

I am now looking forward to see ‘Before Sunset’ (they are now meeting after 9 years)!! and another thing to my 43 things list - visit Vienna…

Never would I have imagined that Bollywood would be interesting to a country like Germany where their own language is so dominant in every form of communication and are almost perceivably xenophobic. In fact it has become so popular that there is at least one Bollywood movie every month on some of the German channels.

Friday, when I was going home from office in the bus, the driver asks a friend and me “Have you seen ‘Sometimes Sad, Sometimes happy’?”. We then realized he was refering to Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. He went on for the rest of the 10 min ride about the movie and how he loved it. Kal Ho Na Ho(Indian Love Story) too was a big success. All the major shops have these DVDs. Based on the success of these 2 movies, a whole bunch of Indian movie DVDs are getting onto the mainstream shopping lines.

I was wondering why these movies are catching the interest of people in Germany. Asked a few people. An interesting comment that I got is the idea that India has managed to hold on to its culture (based on the movies) in the face of globalization [Sidenote: Dont know how much these 2 movies are really about Indian culture].

In fact, I think Germany is going through a difficult time of trying to hold on to their culture but losing out slowly to the American corporate invasion. Given their dilemma at this, they are appreciative of the strength of the Indian culture and tradition.

I just hope that is the case. I think it is just a matter of few years when we will be going through this conflict in India and our generation is the one which will have to really struggle especially when the next generation comes along. It is really important we are clear about our bearing or else in a few years, we will be in the same boat.

I think this is probably one of the cleverest books/movies ever. The pure simplicity of Catch 22 and the way it looks at war satirically is really one of a kind. I thought there were some really cool quotes in the book which I thought I will put here:

“…Let somebody else get killed.”
“But suppose everybody on our side felt that way.”
“Then I’d certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way. Wouldn’t I?”

“‘They’re trying to kill me,’ Yossarian told him calmly.
‘No one’s trying to kill you.’ Clevinger cried.
‘Then why are they shooting at me?’ Yossarian asked. ‘They’re shooting at everyone,’ Clevinger answered. ‘They’re trying to kill everyone.’
‘And what difference does that make?’”

“How much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of creation? When you consider the opportunity and power He had to really do a job, and then look at the stupid, ugly little mess He made of it instead, His sheer incompetence is almost staggering.”

“‘They didn’t have to show us Catch-22′, the old woman answered. ‘The law says they don’t have to’
‘What law says they don’t have to?’
‘Catch-22′.”

I think the book became the icon that it was just because of the sheer simplicity of the concept and definitely one of the funniest. I guess we could really have these Catch 22 type of situations for every aspect of our life. I am sure people can think up loads of Catch 22 situations in their lives.

For now, whenever I crib about work, invariably somebody will make the comment
‘ya, everybody hates work. You are not the only one’…so I guess i should go on ‘what difference does it make?’ in Yossarian speak

Y’day did manage to watch couple of movies Citizen Kane (probably one of the movies that has been on every ‘Greatest Movies of All Time’ List) and Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.

Citizen Kane came out in 1941. I am still grappling with it and trying to figure out what made this movie so iconic. Maybe as they say in this comment, it will grow on me.

Cinema Paradiso (ranked only 107th in IMDB)…I have no words for this movie. To me, this is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Brilliant peformances, great music…excellent screenplay. After ‘Life is Beautiful’, this is the second Italian movie I have seen.

So I am trying to figure out new ways of amusing myself in Munich. So the latest is this English Video library. The movie freak that I am, I have missed out watching English movies here. So now I joined this video library. My first 2 movies have been great.

‘The Remains of the Day’, a Merchant-Ivory production that won Oscars for Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson is the story of an English butler who believes in the dignity of the position of the butler in a traditional English castle. I thought it was brilliant. The movie is based on the book by the same name written by Kazuo Ishiguro, a Booker prize winner. The complexity of the character was brilliant. He is the person who feels attracted to this Emma Thompson character who joins the household as the housekeeper but just cant get himself to really make the next step of conveying it. He seeks protection in the guise of his butler position and retain the ‘dignity’ of the position. Brilliant acting!!!

The other movie, yet another Oscar winner was ‘The Piano’ which earned the Best Actress award for Holly Hunter. Somewhere earlier I had mentioned this movie as one of my favorite soundtracks. It truly is. The music is so haunting. The character of Holly, Ada is this dumb lady whose only connection to the world is the piano. I thought this movie was brilliantly directed using the power of silence. I believe it is so much easier to tell a tale through words or visuals. But when you have no words and only the power of expression to tell the tale, that is so powerful and obviously you need a powerful performer to deliver the goods. This movie, I had viewed years ago. But even back then, I felt that this movie was brilliant.

Sometimes, a good movie really makes your day!! But a good movie is as rare as……(well I didn’t get a good analogy to go with it…but I guess you get the drift…)