MAGIKA

Poster of Magika

I was glad I chose Magika to fill my time during this school break.

In search of his brother

Magika is a story of how a sister, Ayu, accidentally trapped and had to travel in the world of Magika while in search of her younger brother, Malik. She met several kinds of characters in Malay folk stories who gave her a hard time in the unknown world and eventually, managed to get the help of Badang who helped her to save Malik and return to real world.

As soon as the credit title of the film rolled, I told myself how impressed I am to have finally watched a Malay film which is suitable to be watched by kids, something of equal quality with Hollywood's Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, Cindrella, Snow White, etc. Not that our film industry has not produced any children's movie, but this one is the best, so far.

KRU Studios Logo

It's the best because now Malay language teachers in primary school can get their students to read Malay folk stories prior to the viewing of this movie. It helps to promote reading habit. At least now our kids have something to be proud of. And who said educational films are not commercial? At least the impressive collaboration between the KRU brothers have prove them all wrong.

However, it might be difficult to understand Magika, if one has not read Malay folk stories. So, let me write some brief information of them here to help viewers to understand the plot of Magika better.

Puteri Bunian played by Maya Karin

Puteri Bunian : Puteri Bunian (bluntly translated as Princess Ghost) is a princess comes in a form of a very beautiful woman. In Malay folk stories, Puteri Bunian is said to have some liking into abducting men into her world and make them fall in love with her. She would make him stay with her for a few days (in her world's time). Then she would return the man to his world and the man would then realized that he has been missing for decades.

Pak Pandir (by Aznil) and Mak Andih (by Raja Azura)

Pak Pandir : Pak Pandir is a man who is unbelievably fool who creates all kinds of silly problems for himself and his wife. In one of the stories, Pak Pandir bathe his son in boiling water - just to give an idea of his

foolishness.

Mak Andih : Pak Pandir's wife who is slightly cleverer than him.

Badang by Mawi

Badang : A man who becomes as strong as superman after eating the vomit of a ghost.

Mahsuri by Vanidah Imran

Mahsuri : A woman who was killed due to an evil rumour and to prove her innocence, she cursed the whole island and produced white blood as she was stabbed to death.

Nabil as Orang Minyak

Orang Minyak : translated as 'Oily Man'. Orang Minyak is a black magic practitioner and he has to rape certain number of women to complete his studies. 

Awang Kenit (left) and Nenek Kebayan - partners in crime

Awang Kenit : A dwarf whose intelligence barometer is way longer than his height. But in Magika, he is in the evil side.

Nenek Kebayan : An old woman who practices magic to help others; something like Cinderella's fairy godmother. But in Magika, she is an evildoer.

Awang Lembing

Awang Lembing : He was engaged to a woman and left his village to find wealth. But he left too long that his fiancee's family could not wait any longer and marry her to someone else. On the wedding day, Awang Lembing returned and threw his spear to the woman's husband. Before he died, he took the spear off his chest and threw it to someone else. The person who was stabbed by the spear repeated the same action until 99 person was stabbed to death by Awang's spear. The last person who was dead by the spear was Dayang, the girl who was supposed to marry Awang. It's then called 'Lembing Awang Pulang Ke Dayang' (Awang's spear returns to Dayang'. 

Bawang Merah (left) and Bawang Putih

Bawang Merah Bawang Putih : Bawang Merah (onion) and Bawang Putih (garlic) are step sisters. Bawang Merah is always being bullied by Bawang Putih and her mother. Bawang Merah then ended up marrying a prince.

M.Nasir as Naga Tasik Chini

Naga Tasik Chini : Translated as Dragon of Chini Lake. This dragon looks after the lake so that nobody can come close to it.

Ning Baizura was funny as Puteri Gunung Ledang

Puteri Gunung Ledang : A princess who refused to marry Sultan of Malacca and turned down his proposal by requesting illogical stuff as dowry, like seven trays of mosquito's heart, seven trays of young girl's tears, a bowl of blood of the prince of Malacca, etc.

Hang Tuah and his 4 brothers confronting Awang Lembing

Hang Tuah 5 Bersaudara : Hang Tuah and his four other brothers are the important officers of the Sultan of Malacca. They are very well-known to have extraordinary skills in martial arts and Hang Tuah in particular, was undefeated. He was said to be the most loyal servant of the Sultan of Malacca and the reason why Puteri Gunung Ledang refused to marry Sultan of Malacca.

(click on the yellow links to read further on the folk stories)

Kudos to Norman, Edry and Yusry (especially Edry) for this beautiful and amazing film which I am more than willing to show to my children, nieces, nephews and all kids. There are awfully high concentration of talent in your blood that if that Naga Tasik Chini sucks it out of your neck, it might get drunk.

The man of the show - Sabri Yunus

Also, I think the best bit of the film is Sabri Yunos as Bendahara Melaka (Malacca's Prime Minister). He was effortlessly funny, natural, mature and excellent. Five stars to his acting. That was a very nice one!

My Fair Lady (1964)

Casts:

Rex Harrison - Prof Henry Higgins

Audrey Hepburn - Eliza Doolittle

Wilfred Hyde-White - Col. Hugh Pickering

Jeremy Brett - Freddy Eysnford-Hill

Theodore Bikel - Zoltan Kapathy

Stanley Holloway - Alfred Doolittle

I can't actually remember the first time I watched My Fair Lady. In college, I studied the drama 'Pygmalion' by Bernard Shaw and Hollywood made a movie based on the drama and named it My Fair Lady. It's been over five years that I suddenly remember the movie and watched it again.

How refreshing it was. Being so familiar with the storyline, I once again feel like a green and young linguist. Well, as a matter of fact, I am a linguist...I teach language in school.

My Fair Lady is a story of a young woman, Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) who sold flowers in Covent Garden, a lower-class area in London. Like everyone else there, she spoke English with horrible pronunciation. Her father, Alfred Doolittle (Stanley Holloway) was jobless and always extort money from her daughter, but refused to take more than he needs, because he believed that 'too much money will take away one's happiness'.

So this one night, as Eliza was selling flowers to a bunch of wealthy people who took shelter from the rain, came a man, Prof Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) who kept jotting down other people's speech, making other people mistook him as a police officer. Eliza was worried that Higgins would put her in jail for harrassing the upper-class gentleman and ladies there, and began to cry helplessly, attracting the attention of Colonel Hugh Pickering (Wilfred Hyde-White), a retired military officer. But Higgins cleared the air by saying that he was just a linguist (or to be more specific, a phonetician - a speech expert) who was studying the speech in Covent Garden. He claimed that poor command of language was the reason why Eliza remained in lower-class society and if she learned from him, he could turn her into a duchess. It turns out that the retired Colonel was also a linguist; specialising in Indian dialects, so the two gentleman became good friends in no time and Higgins invited Pickering to stay in his house. 

Eliza was overwhelmed with the idea of turning herself into a member of upper-class society just by speaking better English, so next day, she went to Higgins bungalow and asked him to teach her. Higgins refused the request at first, claiming that Eliza couldn't afford to pay him. At this point, Pickering stepped in, throwing a challenge to Higgins that if he could turn Eliza into a duchess in six months, he could prove his prowess as a linguist, and what's more, he's willing to pay for the lessons. Higgins couldn't turn down the challenge, so he agreed and Eliza stayed in his house for the lessons.

Several months had passed and Eliza finally spoke English with better pronunciation. But communication takes a lot more than just correct pronunciation, as she screamed out loud 'Move your blooming arse' during a horse-riding competition for the upper-class society. She nevertheless attracted Freddy Eynsford-Hill (Jeremy Brett), a penniless gentleman, who fell in love with her instantly. At the same time, Higgins and Pickering, continued refining Eliza's language and wanted to get her tested in an Embassy Ball.

At the Embassy Ball, Higgins bumped into his old student, Zoltan Karpathy (Theodore Bikel) who had become a language expert himself in Europe. Zoltan was a real expert; he spoke 32 languages and knew everyone in Europe, and no one could hid their origin, as Zoltan, with his prowess in language, can always tell where a person came from. He helped many people pretend to be who they are not and made them pay 'through the nose'. Hence, Higgins and Pickering were worried that Zoltan might exposed Eliza's identity as a lower-class girl instead of a duchess.

However, there was truly nothing to worry about. Higgins was confident of Eliza and he let Zoltan danced with her. It turned out that Zoltan couldn't tell Eliza's identity and mistook her for a princess. Higgins was extremely happy to make a fool out of Zoltan, and self-proclaimed language expert.

But the successful pretention as a duchess had finally strike into Eliza; she really was a girl from Covent Garden who had no money or anything for her to survive. All she had was good language and she couldn't go back to Covent Garden to sell flowers again. She fell in love with Higgins, but there seemed to be no way she could live with him forever. Higgins suggested that she should marry a rich gentleman and live happily ever after, but Eliza rejected the idea, as she loved Higgins. Higgins's sort of 'rejection' wounded Eliza and she left his house and took shelter in Higgins's mother's house.

When she left, Higgins realized that he couldn't be without her. He was so used into having her company and Eliza had been the one who managed all his stuff in the house, and so he wanted to have her back, much to the dismayed of Eliza. She claimed that she had offered herself as an assistant to Zoltan and would marry Freddy, making Higgins fuming with anger and left his mother's house at once. However, towards the end, Eliza returned to Higgins's house and lived with him again.

It was very much an education and matured love story. There was no smooching scenes in My Fair Lady as in most Hollywood movies these days and yet, it was so heart-warming. Love is expressed through words and eye-contact instead of lip-locking; which was amazing.

Audrey Hepburn as Eliza was good, but could be better with better control of facial expression. Her portrayal of a Covent Garden and a duchess-like lady was okay to me. Nonetheless she was good in the scene when they returned from the Embassy Ball and had an argument with Higgins.

My biggest applause goes to Rex Harrison as Prof Higgins. He was wicked, proud and at the same time, kind, witty and clever. He refused to have any relationship with a woman as he found them to be too demanding and complicated, and didn't realize his love for Eliza.

I used to be so crazy about Rex Harrison before realizing other Asian talents like Bobby Au Yeung in Hong Kong, Shahid Kapoor in India and my very own P.Ramlee. Rex Harrison for me, is the King of Light Comedies and his light-hearted performance always enlighten the atmostphere. His voice especially was so 'British' that one can easily find him to be manly.

I love My Fair Lady. It was among a few movies that I'll keep returning to for inspiration.

Taare Zameen Par - Not bad for a first-timer!

Been a while since the last time I put on my writing cap...there's another reason to write again today.

Just came back from school today, and plunged onto the couch straightaway and switch on the TV, and jumped from one channel to another...and stopped at Singapore's Vasantham Channel....Taare Zameen Par.

Filmmakers all over the world have made countless attempts to approached the idea of teaching and learning in their films. Dead Poet Society, Patch Adams, The Miracle Worker, Black, The Ron Clark Story, etc, have approached education world from various perspective, some of which tried to venture new ideas in education, suggesting that a teacher should do this and that to certain kinds of students.

Sadly, most of these movies portray teachers as angels rather than humans. Teachers for these filmmakers, are magician or life-saver from heaven. Equipped with unrealistic teacher characters, these movies done nothing more than just presenting their ideas of what teachers are to them. Most of them are successful in touching hearts though, but as a teacher myself, I always fail to relate to the character of the teacher as presented in films, because they are hugely unrealistic. Teachers' life is no smooth-sailing where a magician like Ram Shankar Nikumbh's can do whatever he thought was necessary without objection from his colleagues and superior. Perhaps some of you who are not teachers might have thought that since teachers are the guidance of life, they know what's best and always do things right. Well, here's the truth; teachers are not angels, and sometimes, teachers too are forced to do wrong things and do not have the capability to do things they think are necessary. Many of times, teachers like me have to just watch students 'killing' themselves in front of us and we got our hands tied down and unable to help. We regret, but that's part of the reality in our lives. We used both our hands to touch as many lives as we can, but the resentment are countless too and in equal number of times, we don't get much opportunity to change things. This might sound a little too pessimistic, but so far, that's what I think of a teacher's life. Of course there are rewarding and happy things about being a teacher, but, in the context of Taare Zameen Par, it was not approached realistically.

Taare Zameen Par is a Hindi movie with Aamir Khan and a superstar-in-the-making, Darsheel Safary. Taare Zameen Par suggested the idea that dyslexic children are not incapable, instead, they are children with capabilities beyond any wildest imagination.

Darsheel Safary played Ishaan, a boy with dyslexia, a learning disorder, causing those with it to have difficulty in reading, writing, and counting the way non-dyslexic kids do. His parents, teachers and schoolmates have constant misunderstanding about him; he was kid with countless excuses, he was stupid, he was a failure, he was every parents' and teacher's worst nightmare. His only talent was in painting, and he was unimaginably spectacular at it, as the film portrays it. Thinking that his child has behavioral problems, his father sent him to a boarding school. Ishaan felt sad, troubled, unwanted, rejected and opt into keeping himself quiet and soundless at all time.

Then came into the spectrum; Aamir Khan, who played Ram Shankar Nikumbh, a former special education teacher who was dyslexic himself. He realized Ishaan's quietness and tried to find out Ishaan's problems. His venture in Ishaan's life brought him to Ishaan's parents and he tried to make Ishaan's parents understand that Ishaan is not a problem, just that he requires a different method of teaching as he approached every knowledge differently. Ishaan's father was initially in denial, especially when Ishaan's elder brother was an excellent student. Mr. Nikumbh then returned to the school feeling really bad for Ishaan, because his father refused to understand him.

Putting the frustration behind, Nikumbh began his work on Ishaan. He obtained support from his superior and began applying different method to teach Ishaan to read and recognize letters and numbers. Ishaan began to progress and coped with his studies, and at the same time, building a good rapport with Nikumbh. Things began to be good around Ishaan and his father began to realize that Mr. Nikumbh was right. Ishaan finally got the recognition for his talent in painting and Mr Nikumbh was then accepted into the school as permanent staff. Happy ending.

Well...to be honest, I am not a fan of Aamir Khan and somehow, still not a fan of him even after the spectacularly successful Taare Zameen Par. But as I am still in honest mode, Aamir Khan was impressive as an actor. But the kid Darsheel Safary, was a true star-in-the-making. He was the plain Taare Zameen Par (star on the earth). He churned perfect picturisation of every drop of emotion and played the character of Ishaan perfectly well that I began to doubt Aamir's performance. The kid actually overshadowed Aamir the living legend!

As of the story, I have some doubts here and there. I am a teacher myself and the idea of having an angel in a form of a teacher suddenly coming to a school and saved the students in need is somehow equal to the idea of Superman flying over the sky and sing 'Here I come to save the daayyy!!!', so it's kind of unrealistic to me. Having said that, maybe it's just me who have not encountered such teacher, who knows?

But to be fair, the unorthodox teaching method adopted by Nikumbh in teaching Ishaan was in-line with special education theory - writing letters in sandbox, shaping letters with clay, and learn numbers by walking up and down the stairs. Any special education teacher in real life would have done the same. Kudos to that part.

But my doubts lies in the simplicity of Ishaan's acceptance towards Nikumbh. In real life, it won't be that easy. Special children are strong opinioted and approaching them won't be that easy to be done in just one attempt of telling how special they are. Nikumbh's life as a teacher appeared to be easy because no matter how problematic the kids are, they don't seem to be rude or impolite, as it normally occur in real school life. And who said excellent students don't have behavioral problems? All schools, be it good school or poor school, located in city or in suburb, big or small in size, do have behaviorally problematic students. The only difference is the approach; weak students will create problems like fighting, talking back, not submitting their work or bullying their schoolmate, but academically excellent students also create problems like putting carbide in aquarium to kill fishes or setting up trap for other students like what we saw in Home Alone.

Also, Nikumbh has broken a rule; he showed favoritism. In a professional teacher's life, a teacher should never show his own preference. Nikumbh's connection with Ishaan was completely humane, but his success with Ishaan shows another drawback. He said art is important for humans so that they can express their feelings; doesn't other kids in his class have feelings too? Not showing favouritism has been a huge debate in education world, as it seemed to prevent teachers to be human. But every rule has a reason behind it, because human's relationship is complicated. Students can be extremely attached to the teacher who inspires them, but there will come a time where they have to let go. If the teacher is the only reason for behavioral changes, all education and effort will be wasted the moment the teacher and student parted ways to go on with their own lives. The ideal way is to make the behavioral changes permanent because that's the right thing to do, not for anyone. But being a teacher myself, I know how difficult to practice whatever we've preached. Moreover, how can he help Ishaan if he doesn't show his favouritism, considering that Ishaan seemed to be the only kid who requires help in the class?

So overall, despite of the excellent performance and heart-wrecking songs (Maa, Taare Zameen Par), the misconception in storyline and its independent interpretation of education theory makes the film to be just 'okay' for me. Nonetheless, Taare Zameen Par does not fail in entertaining. My rating, is perhaps 2.8 over 5, but Darsheel's performance was an absolute 5 over 5. However, as Aamir's directorial debut, Taare Zameen Par is completely not disappointing. Aamir certainly has the talent and potential, though there are plenty of room for improvement. Not bad for a first-timer, and Aamir is absolutely a far better actor than Shah Rukh Khan. Taare Zameen Par makes me understand now, why Aamir is an actor, and why Shah Rukh is merely a star.

THE PRISONER OF ZENDA (1952)

Stewart Granger as King Rudolf V and Rudolf Rassendy

The Prisoner of Zenda (POZ) is a movie based on royalty and dignitaries in a fictional country called Ruritania. King Rudolf V, was about to take over the throne after his father's death, but his exceptional love for wine made him an easy prey for his step-brother, Black Michael. Black Michael had always envied King Rudolf for being the heir of the throne, as he took himself as a better king. Black Michael was not meant for the throne, because his mother was not of the royal blood.

Stewart Granger as King Rudolf - a drunkard

Knowing that King Rudolf loved wine - and got drunk very frequently - he gave a bottled of drugged wine to King Rudolf the night before his coronation, meant to put the future King to sleep throughout the process and snatch the throne from him. King Rudolf was really drugged, and he was unconscious for many hours.

Stewart Granger as Rudolf Rassendyll - a British gentleman

Luckily, Rudolf Rassendyll was there. Rudolf was a British gentleman travelling from his homecountry to Ruritania to see the coronation as well as starting a new career as an attache to an ambassador. He was indeed special because he looked alike as the King, as if they're twins. The King's loyal companion, Colonel Sapt and Captain Fritz got Rudolf to pretend as the King to attend the coronation and Rudolf agreed, as the King would never be crowned if he was not crowned on that very day.

After the coronation, Rudolf, Sapt and Fritz found out that the King was kidnapped by Black Michael. That's the beginning of the film's intermission. In front of the public, the two parties pretend to be nice to each other, but off the scene, they were pulling each other's rope - Black Michael wanted to kill Rudolf and the King so that he could take over the throne, and Rudolf wanted to save the King so that the lovely Queen Flavia -with whom he fell in love with - would not marry the wicked man.

Col.Sapt and Capt.Fritz - loyal to King Rudolf V

Towards the end, a rich French woman called Antoinette de Mauban stepped in and helped Rudolf to save the King. Antoinette had always been in love with Black Michael and letting Michael to be the King meant that she could never be with Michael and therefore, he had to let Rudolf saved the King. Black Michael was also defeated by his disloyal servant, Rupert of Hentzau who work for Michael only for his own benefit.

Jane Greer as Antoinette de Mauban

Deborah Kerr as Queen Flavia

The King was then saved and return to the palace, but Rudolf-Flavia love story remained secret, for the sake of the King and the country's safety.

The Prisoner of Zenda is indeed a good movie. The fighting scene between Rudolf and Rupert was real, as if they were really trained as military. The best appearance was probably Stewart Granger who played Rudolf Rassendyll and King Rudolf simultaneously. James Mason was not bad either, and he was a real flirt whenever Antoinette de Mauban was around.

Deborah Kerr and Jane Greer who played Queen Flavia and Antoinette de Mauban respectively were beautiful, and they were great, though I find Jane Greer would have played the character Queen Flavia better if given the chance. However, Antoinette was a more important character than Queen Flavia, and therefore perhaps a better actress was needed there.

Robert Coote as Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim was funny. He had a light moustache on his face and though his character was not meant to be funny, he had one funny line when he said, "They must've take me for a bigger fool" as he delivered a letter to Rudolf who was sitting on a bed. Louis Calhern as Colonel Sapt was quite good, though as times he was rather 'woody', or perhaps the character required him to be so. But without the two of them, Stewart Granger would have looked odd in the film.

James Mason as Rupert of Hentzau (left) and Robert Douglas as Black Michael (right)

 This movie may not have a lot of educational points in it, but my students seemed to love it. And to be true, my students were mostly born in mid 90s. Considering that this film was made when their fathers and mothers were teenagers, I'd say this film still has a special appeal among youngsters.

I'd give 7/10 rating for this film. I wish someone would do a remake of this movie.

FINDING NEMO - A Genuine Human in Every Fish!

It's been a while since the last time I got to sit down at home quietly and watch movie. This time, I was good to myself.

And I was glad I chose Finding Nemo to fill the hardly-found free time.

With a large cup of hot coffee in my hand, I filled my refreshing Sunday morning on the couch, watching Finding Nemo. Not that I haven't watch it before, but it really does get better everytime I watch it. Surprising.

Finding Nemo, is a story of a male clownfish, Marlin, who went thousands of miles looking for his rebellious little son, Nemo. In the midst of proving himself to his dad, Nemo got himself into trouble by being caught by divers. Marlin, unable to accept the lost, decided to travel throughout the sea to find Nemo and take him back home. Nemo was kept in an aquarium by the diver, who happened to be a dentist. 

Marlin's journey was no smooth sailing. He was accompanied by Dory, a female blue fish with short-term memory lost. Though not able to remember Nemo's name, Dory proved her loyalty and was Marlin's most helpful company. Together they roamed around the ocean and went through unimaginable adventures in search of Nemo. 

They took on 3 sharks, swam through a bunch of jellyfish and defeated a scary-looking fish that had all its sword-like teeth protruding outside its mouth. Apart from this, they went through good things too; 








they met a group of sea turtles who helped them to find their way in East Australian Current (E.A.C). 

Meanwhile, Nemo's aquarium-mate, Gill, managed to throw Nemo into the dentist's 
sink hole and Nemo finally returned to the ocean. The fishy father-son then reunites and returned home.


The story was original. What I love the most about this movie is its presentation.


I found a genuine human being in every character in Finding Nemo. I saw a common man walking pass a neighbour and said "How's it goin' Bob?" in a form of a lobster. I found an extremely friendly buddy in a form of a sea turtle, Crush. I found an irresistably cute little kid, Squirt in a form of a baby sea turtle. I saw a real teacher in a form of a stingray.

At the same time, the ocean-ness life of all the characters were not reduced. A shark was still a predator though trying their best to be friendly to other fishes. A squid still inks and all other fishes are fishes. I am amazed at how all characters appeared to be human and fishes at the same time!


My greatest admiration was Ellen de Generes. She was excellent as Dory. I love the scene where she first met Marlin and appeared to be helpful by showing Marlin direction of where the diver's boat was heading. However, a split second after, she seemed to have forgotten what she was doing and accused Marlin of stalking her. She even said, "Wanna piece of me? Ha? Ha? Ha?" while striking some fishy-martial arts moves. I found it to be the funniest scene in Finding Nemo and love the fact that Ellen de Generes was the one doing Dory's voice. I don't think anyone else can do it better than Ellen. She was funny, loud and indispensable. Although she repeatedly annoyed Marlin for forgetting everything almost immediately, she was no doubt, Marlin's best friend and greatest company. Her friendly nature helps Marlin to reduce his stress and eventually they became good friends and looked out for each other. In Finding Nemo, I love Dory the most. She was still helplessly cute even when Marlin told her to leave so that he could continue the journey alone. 


The sea turtle was a heart-warming sight. Crush, father of Squirt, was a loving father and a helpful friend. He saved Marlin after he fought the jellyfishes and showed him the way to Sydney. Crush was cute and cool, a very loving father who allowed enough space for Squirt to venture in his life. There was a very short moment where Marlin learnt about fatherhood from 150-year old Crush. The relationship and bonding between Crush and Marlin was extremely heart-warming; Crush was indeed, a friend in need, that many people could just dream of having.


All the adventures turned Marlin into a better man, father, friend and member of the community. He lived up to his name (clownfish) by telling good jokes to his friends, he allowed some space for Nemo to grow up and was never again paranoid about the drop-off and develop a stronger bonding with his son. Dory lived nearby, and courageously, became good friends with the remorseful-vegetarian sharks. It was a happy ending.


In other words it was an extremely good family movie. One could learn about fatherhood, family, friendship and being helpful. Watch out for Ellen de Generes as Dory and Andrew Stanton as Crush. Excellent work and presentation. Highly recommended to all. 


RATING: A HUNDRED OVER TEN 100/10

BLACK

School holidays. Long holidays never fails to bore me to death. So out of unbearable boredom, I went to a video store to rent some DVDs; I chose 5 films; Liar Liar (Jim Carrey), Sounds of Music (Julie Andrews, Andrew Plummer), Upin and Ipin: Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula, Wong Fei Hung (Jet Li) and Black (Rani Mukherjee, Amitabh Bachan). I have watched them all, except for Wong Fei Hung and Black. Yeah...quite a diverse taste; many people told me that too.

Liar Liar is a typical Jim Carrey movie, Sounds of Music never fails to make me sing along with the songs, Upin and Ipin is helplessly cute, Wong Fei Hung fails to grab my attention, I actually stopped watching it after 10 minutes - it could be a different story if Bobby Au Yeung is in it; too bad he didn't and BLACK....

I am never a fan of any of the casts in the film. I have watched many of Rani Mukherjee and Amitabh Bachan films (Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum), Dil Bole Hadippa, Amar Akbar Anthony, Sholay, etc, but nothing beats BLACK.

BLACK is about a girl named Michelle (Rani Mukherjee) who was blind, deaf and mute (maybe partially mute). Her world was completely in darkness and in silence. She referred to her childhood as 'being an animal in a human's body'. Nothing could pin her down. She ate by walking around the table and grabbed a handful of food and fed herself. She created a new problem everyday; from throwing her baby sister out of her little basket to setting up fire on the dining table. She was not to be blamed though, at least by her tender-loving mother, but her father was beginning to lose his cool. Obviously the parents' frustrations were almost unbearable, but the mother was still holding on to any little drop of patience that she still had, while the father was about to consider sending the poor Michelle to a mental institution, simply taking her own daughter for being mentally-retarded.

But the mother's patience persists. She contacted a woman, Miss Nair, who runs a special school for physically-challenged children. Miss Nair has a teacher, Mr Sahai (Amitabh Bachan) who believes in miracles. Mr Sahai's dedication and love for his students are completely incomparable, though he did feel a little upset that his students (all either blind, deaf or mute) stood and wave to another direction than his own, when he was leaving the school. When told that Michelle's mother needs his service, Mr Sahai jumped into the opportunity at once and began his work with the little girl.

His unconventional ways of teaching was misunderstood by Michelle's parents, because he seemed to be harsh and forceful. But when he managed to teach Michelle to sign for her parents, he proved that Michelle actually can learn things and the parents began to accept him in their household, making him part of the family and allowing him to take over the responsibility as Michelle's primary caregiver.

And the magician put himself at work at all costs. Michelle grew up into a fine young lady who behaved at the dining table, who understands words and communicates well with people around her. She even qualified to enter a university and became an art student. Mr Sahai glued himself to her and helped her with great patience and made himself available to her day and night.

But even before Michelle passed her first year (Michelle actually spent over 3 years to pass the first year alone), Mr Sahai realized that not only he's getting older, he began to forget many things, like how to leave the room that he just entered or who was the principal of Michelle's college. His illness made his ambition grew stronger, that he wanted Michelle to obtain a degree and be independent before he lost his mind altogether.

The time came when Michelle's sister, Sara, was about to marry a man. They went to the church where the wedding was held and as Mr Sahai recited the event to Michelle, she began to feel something was missing in her life. She wanted to be a woman, and not just a girl. She didn't understand the word 'kiss' when the priest said, "Now you may kiss the bride".

After the wedding, she went to Mr Sahai's bedroom and asked him to kiss her. It was not clear to me; was she really in love with the teacher, or she just wanted to know how it's like to be kissed by a man. I supposed even though Mr Sahai refused to kiss her, he finally obliged for perhaps, worried that Michelle would ask just anyone to kiss her, to find out how it's like. Or maybe he's worried that his illness would prevent Michelle from knowing things that any young lady would know. So he kissed her on her lips.

Michelle considered the kiss to be an honour for a lady, but Mr Sahai felt so guilty, as if he had taken advantage of the innocent girl. So that very night, Mr Sahai left the place, leaving only a piece of letter, telling Michelle to never give up in life and move on with her life. Michelle was so broken-hearted, for the teacher has been the only hope, dream, sound and light in her life. Now with the teacher gone, her life has gone back to darkness and silence.

But she followed the final advice; she went on with her studies, and at the age of 40, she was graduated from the university with a Bachelor of Arts.

After 12 years of not seeing Mr Sahai, suddenly he appeared again. He sat at the waterfall in front of Michelle's house, in a very saddening condition. He had lost his memory completely and had forgotten Michelle. They took him to a doctor who confirmed him for having Alzheimer's. His memory was erased from his brain like a duster erasing a blackboard. Michelle was very happy that Mr Sahai had returned, but felt responsible for returning him to who he was before. So she began teaching him the way he taught her before.

The story ended that way. I was alone watching the movie at 3am in the morning, and glad nobody saw my tears.

Unlike any other Hindi films, BLACK does not have any song, no sweet-romantic lines, no handsome and mind-blowing looks on any of the actors, no unmatchable dance, no taking-off-your-clothes and no unnecessary clown acts. This film is completely relying on the story and the strength of its casts.

I think all actors and actresses acted extremely well, including the sidekicks. The actress who played Michelle's mother managed to scream her emotions and break my heart into pieces when she talked to Michelle on the phone as Michelle told her that she failed her first year exam again.

Amitabh Bachan strikes me to my greatest shock of all time when he actually kissed Rani. It was less than 3 seconds, but I have not seen him doing such scene before. He always play the proper and prim character, even as a thief. Amitabh actually learnt sign language to play the character of Mr Sahai...what a commitment. That's what I called dedication. And he signed all the words smoothly, almost effortlessly. He truly lived up to his reputation in the film industry.

But the biggest praise goes to Rani Mukherjee. I don't think anyone could play the character better than her, not even Madhuri Dixit, not even Aishwarya Rai. Throughout the film, she made herself to be Michelle up to a point you believe that Michelle is Rani and Rani is Michelle. The way she walked (though perhaps copying Charlie Chaplin) and the way she produced partially-correct pronunciation of words, her facial expressions, etc. Everything about her was portrayed with complete perfection and she deserved the Best Actress award. And this is still not too much to say that among all the recipients of Best Actress awards in all filmy events, I think Rani Mukherjee is best among them, taking BLACK as a benchmark of acting.

I have not seen any movie that could touch me straight into the deepest core of my heart. Being a movie freak, I watched Dicey Business (produced by TVB with Bobby Au Yeung as main lead), I have watched Titanic, I have watched thousands of movies of various languages (Malay, English, Cantonese, Hindi, Arabic, Tamil, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German and French), but nothing was comparable to BLACK. In shallow appearance, BLACK could be too simple, but it was the greatest winner. I must say, BLACK is the best movie I have ever watched, throughout my movie-watching experience so far. Even though BLACK is a re-make of a Hollywood movie (The Miracle Worker, 1962), it was full of human touch, making it watchable across all ethnicity, region, languages, etc. I only have one word to describe BLACK - inspiring.

Kudos to BLACK production team; Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Rani Mukherjee, Amitabh Bachan, and all who has helped in the production of the most beautiful movie of the century.

Govinda in Naseeb (1997)

Have you ever thought that you would be impressed with an actor when you thought there's no way he would impressed you?

Govinda did.

I am an avid film-watcher and been watching films of many languages (Malay, English, Cantonese, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, German, etc) and during a visit to a friend's house, I stumbled upon a VCD - Naseeb, by Govinda. The packaging and poster on the VCD doesn't impress me at all, but my friend said Govinda was outstanding. I thought he's a comedian, there's no way he could impress me. 

At some point, I put Govinda in the same league with Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav or Anupam Kher; all who play only the sidekicks of the dashing heroes. As much as I enjoy Govinda in Partner, Raja Babu and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, I thought there's no way Govinda could bring a character of a drunkard, suicide-inclined and crying man. He's always on my list of second class actor. To be truthful, no one in Hindi film industry has ever impress me since Raj Kapoor in Mera Naam Joker.

But the curiosity won over me. I wanted to see how Govinda would stand up and deliver the character. I have not seen him crying, I have not seen him drunk, I have not seen him failed to win the girl he loved, so I brought the VCD home and watched it.

And finally, I hereby, frankly announcing that I am impressed with Govinda, and admit my total admiration, beyond whatever I had felt for Shah Rukh Khan or even Raj Kapoor.

In Naseeb, Govinda played Krishna Prasad, a common mechanic who fell in love with Pooja (Mamta Kulkarni) a girl from rich family. They decided to get married, but Pooja's father was not impressed with Krishna, so Krishna decided to go away for several years to find wealth and asked Pooja to wait for him. Pooja waited for five years, during which Pooja's father burnt all letters from Krishna for her and denied his phone calls. The father actually wanted to separate them. The father then wrote a fake letter, claiming that it came from Krishna. The letter made Pooja believed that Krishna has forgotten her and asked her to reciprocate. Broken hearted, Pooja married another man, Deepak. Krishna returned on the day Pooja got married and saw her walking around the fire with Deepak. He was so broken hearted as he has got the wealth and felt Pooja was unfaithful. He turned into a drunkard and even tried to commit suicide, but was saved by Kader Khan who stood by him as a faithful friend. Soon after Deepak got a job in Krishna's company and Krishna found out that his lover girl was married to his employee, Deepak. He was so unhappy and provided with bad-tongued Shakti Kapoor, he began to accused Deepak of stealing money from his company and Deepak was thrown in a jail. In an attempt to free her husband, Pooja went to Krishna, during which she confessed her commitment as a wife to Deepak. Krishna realized that she was no longer in love with him as much as he was insanely in love with her, so he gave up. Deepak was freed, but he accused Pooja of having an affair with Krishna, which was why Krishna freed him. Pooja ran away from home and rescued by Kader Khan who confronted Pooja's father for not delivering Krishna's letters to Pooja, causing three hearts to be severely upset. Kader Khan went to Krishna, asking him to rectify the problem and made peace between Pooja and Deepak. Krishna loved Pooja deeply, and agreed. He took Pooja to Deepak and explained everything, but Deepak was not convinced. At the end, Krishna shot himself with a gun and before he died, he confessed his ever-strong love for Pooja, but too bad he's not made for her, and asked Deepak to trust Pooja. He died then.

It was a sad story from beginning till the end for Krishna. The part I love the most was when Krishna being tipsy (he was tipsy all the time) and told his story to Kader Khan and cried in his arms. He was convincing, up to a point, I believe he was truly in love with Pooja and was in great pain and suffering. 

Another great scene was when Pooja went to Krishna in his house to get Deepak freed. Krishna was seated on his chair and he looked at Pooja with eyes filled with tears and he slapped Pooja for accusing him of wanting to sleep with her.

Govinda was outstanding. He played the character so well that I believe he was really sad. His drunkard acting was so real, that I am more convinced with Krishna in Naseeb compared to Shah Rukh Khan in Devdas. I believe in Krishna's sadness than Devdas's sadness. Above all, I never thought Govinda could ever play this kind of character, especially when he played the toothy and grinny Pyare Mohan in Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and mother's boy in Raja Babu or social-retarded Bhaskar in Partner.

I watched Naseeb for the third time now. Govinda is such a treat to watch. It never gets bored. I would prefer him without the moustache, but I prefer his moustache than typical unshaved face of Hrithik Roshan or John Abraham when they're sad. We normally see the heroines cried on bed for her lover, but Govinda cried on bed and still looks convincing, more than all the heroines who has ever did the same scene.

All songs by Nadeem-Shravan was great. I can't really tell which is my favourite because I have been listening to them all for weeks now. But Govinda's dance in Chanda Sitare was awesome; he danced like he was the only one who can dance and I cried along with Govinda in Shikwa. I cried along too when he cried in Kader Khan's arms. Basically I cried along with him and felt his sadness throughout the movie. This is the second movie I cried on after Amitabh Bachan and Rani Mukherjee's Black. No film ever managed to do the same on me so far.

Govinda is great. He's now on my new list, the list way above the list of first class actor. And mind you, he's the only one in that list. I am going to look for his villain portrayal in Shikari now.