Tag Archives: drama

How Important Is Voice In Onscreen Depiction Of Argument?

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photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar Tiger argument via photopin (license)

For the last four posts, I have been discussing portrayal of conflicts in Hindi classic movies. In my opinion, these scenes offer us some real treasures of Indian drama. Today I will talk about something elementary. How does conflict start in the first place? I agree that this is a deep question which falls within the areas of philosophy and sociology. However, here we need not go into much detail, instead mention only main steps of interpersonal conflicts. First, there is a clash — of ideas and opinions, of dreams, ambitions, preferences and so on. We try to resolve such conflicts through dialogues,  which are most often biased. We try to persuade the other person to move away from our path. When the other person does not follow, we try to convince him by logic and arguments. When that also fails, we try to show authority, strength, power, and in such way step by step the conflict takes higher notes of argument ultimately transforming into verbal duel followed by physical assaults. Continue reading

When Shabana Azmi And Smita Patil Share Screen Space, The Result Is Sheer Magic!

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Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil with Soni Razdan in a scene from Mandi (1983), a yet another Shyam Benegal masterpiece. Photo source: TheQuint.

I will continue with my discussion on film appreciation based on onscreen depiction of conflicts. In the previous two parts of this series, I highlighted the different styles employed by actors to portray the characters they were playing. In the second part, I discussed geometry, inclination and orientation in a scene. I also mentioned importance of the 1/3 rule and the leading lines. Hope you remember those details. Otherwise it is a good idea to brush up your memory by revisiting those articles because discussion in this article and all forthcoming articles depends heavily on the concepts outlined in previous articlesContinue reading

How To Watch A Movie Scene — Look For The Basic Rules Of Photography!

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When I was a child, I used to hate art movies. I always wondered how could anyone like such boring movies, which had no story, no dance or songs, no action scenes. And strangely, such movies got National awards! I always doubted some sort of foul play behind the jury decision. Of course, my favourite movies and artists did get the Filmfare awards, but then why not National awards? I always blamed it on cheating, which was my word for corruption. When I got older, I obtained the wisdom that boring movies get National awards whereas exciting (and hence good) movies get Filmfare awards! When I was in my late 20s, somehow I decided to take another look at some of these boring stuff of Indian cinema. I started with Paar, then Trikaal, Chakra and so on. And hell, I was so annoyed at myself! How could I have not liked such movies earlier! These movies and the various artists therein are real gems. How have I missed them all these years! And then there was no looking back. I explored further and tried to watch as many Indian art movies as I could find. Though I did like the narrative and the way it unfolded, and the skills of the people involved in making such artwork, somehow I always had a feeling that I was missing something more subtle. What is the grammar of art — as one of my seniors once asked me — the basic set of rules which makes any creative work a piece of art? I did not have an answer then, and even today I am exploring the answer to that question. Continue reading

Clash Of Legends Reveals The Best Of Drama

I express my heartfelt gratitude to Rahul Gandhi — had he not sent his wishes to Narendra Modi on 27th March, perhaps I would never have known that that date is celebrated as the World Theatre Day. In that context, I would add that in spite of the enormous effort and time spent, no artist has ever been able to match the acting skills of any politician. Anyway, instead of discussing politics, I would rather write a few words to commemorate this day and to pay belated tribute to all the people who are involved in performing arts. Continue reading