To read & to be read - Part 2

Still reeling from Part 1? Are you all cross-eyed and sleepy? Yeah? Then come back later... this post will still be here...

For the rest of you, Welcome to Part 2 of my blog-arc - this was Part 1. Glad ya joined me for the ride...

This post is going to be about yet another of Ms. Austen's book - debatably, my favorite - Sense and Sensibility (Div, did I hear a gasp from you?)

Once again, in a tale rich with emotional complexities, which Ms.Austen so superbly navigates, is set mostly in the English countryside (no, not the place pointed to by the signboard in Austin Powers: The Spy who shagged me - gotta stop here a sec and wipe my away my tears of laughter - that memory cracks me up everytime. every.time.) - is, again, a social drama with her (Jane Austen's) unflinching commentary on what was then considered perfectly normal.

Again, I saw the movie first, so I will only comment on what I know of it...

So far, of the newer Austen movies, I think this has the most stellar cast - Emma Thompson (I think she is, for lack of a purer adjective, awesome), Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman (I heart him) and of course, Hugh Grant & yes, even Hugh Laurie (go House). Star-crossed yet?

Gotta say here - it is a marvel, how after all these years, a story like this is still relevant... If Pride and Prejudice was about how the younger sister's (Elizabeth) prejudices almost came in the way of her true love, Sense is mostly about how the older sister keeps the family together... even at great personal cost...yes, the dreaded word, love.

Featuring once again, a strong female lead - someone who is well-read, accomplished, resourceful and yet puts family first... I think I'd turn to Sense for more realism that Pride. From the number of versions that Pride has had, you'll understand it has waaaay more drama and hence 'sells', if I may be so crude...

Sense hasn't had as many versions, atleast to my knowledge... And I will attribute that to how grounded and level-headed it is - be it Elinor or Col. Brandon. Those two words right there - grounded and level-headed - automatically make it tank at the box-office... Cos who wants real-life right? We want the tears, we want the drama, we want the costumes, we want the locations - but wait, Sense has those too... If only people stayed long enough to find that out...

Anyways, did you know Rajiv Menon's Kandukondein Kandukondein is an adaptation of Sense ? Tabu plays Elinor's character and Mamooty plays Col. Brandon's character - and these two, are my favorite. More about them later...

It is a fact that I saw Kandukondein before I saw Sense and I remember thinking to myself Abbas' character (Willoughby) was completely unnecessary... Only after I saw Sense did it make sense to me (pun definitely intended) - that Willoughby had to come into Marianne's life (Kate Winslet) to show her that what she thought was love, wasn't.

Ok, does it bug anyone else, that Aishwarya Rai (or should I say Rai-Bachchan now?) has has the privilege of playing two - not one, but two - Austen characters? Aishwarya as Lizzie Bennett? Really? Come on people!! Give me a BIG break. AND as Marianne Dashwood ? Kill me, kill me now. No offence to Ms. Rai - I wish her great personal and professional happiness.

I did honestly think that Tabu & Mamooty did justice to the parts given to them - but I must say here, the Indian twist to the story - Mamooty being a drunken, handicapped war veteran & Tabu as the un-lucky charm to Ajit's Edward Ferrars? I think that may have been the sugar that tried to make the intended medicine go down... I didn't agree with that...

As I said before, I heart Alan Rickman - I love him as Snape (heart heart heart), loved him in Die Hard, Love Actually, even Galaxy Quest. He's always played the drawl, sarcastic, with dry-as-sandpaper humor... I was quite pleasantly surprised to see him in Sense as the quiet, soft-spoken, caring yet firm Col. Brandon - the kind of guy they talked about when they said, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.... Col. Brandon's the kind of man I could possibly dream about - even if he only is a fictional character... feel free to go get coffee or something.. while I look away dreamily into the distance...

I was rather amused by Hugh Grant's portrayal of Edward Ferrars - attentive yet shy, accomplished yet grounded to Emma Thompson's Elinor and in particular, his scenes with Margaret Dashwood *chuckle*... This one film redeems all him from the Notting Hill/Mickey Blue Eyes/Bridget Jones' Diary fiasco...

Which brings me to an important point - the screenplay for the 1995 version of Sense was written by Emma Thompson and won her an Oscar the following year for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. Is that proof enough? That when great material meets a great interpreter /actor, magic happens? Her acceptance speech was so, so witty (it was on the DVD extra) and she is so humble....

I've always held her in high esteem... Starting from yet another fave Much ado about nothing, Remains of the day, Sense and Sensibility, Love Actually and down to even the Harry Potter movies as Trelawney... I think she truly is a star...

If you've noticed, I've said a lot more about Sense than I did about Pride... and I'll go so far as to say, I really do identify and relate to Elinor's character... I totally get why she did what she did and the way she did it... and along the same lines, I totally identify with Tabu's character too - not the unlucky charm part of it, but almost everything else...

And like I said, I did order a paperback copy of the unabridged Sense and Sensibility (its part of a 3 book collectors item - P and P, S and S and also, Persuasion) ... so once I get the books, it definitely going to be a toss-up between Sense and Pride... *chuckles*

Anyways, Sense (1995) is an equally lavish, captivating production with fascinating portrayals of characters written a hundred year or so years ago... the movie is a living,breathing homage to one of the best books of our times and arguably, one of the best authors of our times ...

I'll take your leave now... Part 3 is coming soon...