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...

To read & to be read - Part 1

Ok - I am going to break my own unwritten rule and publish more than one post on the same day...

If you read my earlier post today, you'll know I saw, like a ton, of movies this weekend and it got me thinking. A lot. Mostly due to 3 movies in that list (one unnamed yet of course) and here we go...

*WARNING*: This is part 1 of a blog-arc, so to speak - it is literary, extremely cerebral, mildly boring and I don't mind saying so myself, bordering on a rant. I will be more than happy if you read this, but don't say I didn't warn you...

Does a word like 'disingenuous' send you running towards the nearest WordWeb or Google tab?
Well, 'disingenuous' didn't send me off on a Googling spree.. but some other words still do... err let me say, phrases, like 'invigorating in a non-rigorous, pragmatic sort-of way' ...

And at the risk of sounding like an old crone, I'm wondering, what ever happened to the value of being well-read and well-spoken... Nowadays, we all seem to have attention spans that would only last a news ticker or a web-clip in gmail... I know they said "Keep it simple, stupid!" - but, really, this stupid?

I am not going to lament on how we all don't read books any more.. ok forget books, atleast newspapers? End to End? no waaaayyy.. right? Me either...

But I want to change - I'm going back to my roots... in a manner of speaking... I've always felt sorely inadequate in the company of my many, well-read, uncles - who, during the formative years of my childhood (look how that turned out!), have emphasized to me, the value of reading classics - the unabridged versions... And take my word for it, when they say they were 8 or 9 when they finished Dickens' writings or Keats' poems, I do not doubt them. Yes, they were brought up in a different time, we're brought up in a different time... still...

We're all looking for meaning, right? Life's small moments? Something we can connect with.. something that makes us feel less insane... For me, it just might be reading some classics... Personally, I have always found that, reading books is like looking at life through someone else's eyes, walking in someone else's shoes... I find it stimulating and you know what they say, once a new idea enters your mind, it stretches a little and never goes back to the way it was...

So I'm gonna start with one of my fave authors, the wonderful Ms. Jane Austen... I can see those eyes rolling... stop here if you want... you can still make a run for it...

Part 1 of this blog arc is going to be about one of her most celebrated works, Pride and Prejudice... And although I could, at this point, launch into a full-blown review of the movie or of the book, I'm going to just jot down some random thoughts about both...

• The book was first titled 'First Impresssions' before it came around to be what we know as P and P
  
  
• Both Hollywood & Bollywood have made attempts at converting P&P into a movie that takes place in our times, or at the very least incorporating some elements from P and P. Case in point, You've got mail that has our charming Mr.Hanks and the elfin Ms. Ryan discussing Ms. Bennett and Mr.Darcy. Bollywood's take? Well, its more of a cross over, but still, Gurinder Chadha's Bride and Prejudice. These apart from the other P and P versions with Colin Firth, the one with Laurence Olivier etc. Oh and did I forget to mention Bridget Jones' Diary, too.
  
  
• The film adaptations of Ms.Austen's books have always commended a top-notch cast - I mean, look at P and P - the 2005 version. Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn, Kiera Knightley and last but not the least in any sense of the word, Dame Judi Dench. If that doesn't dazzle you, nothing will... I haven't seen any other Matthew MacFadyen works, but he deserves a mention here too.
  
  
• P and P will be to girls what the Godfather is to guys. No argument.
  
  
• The 2005 version of the film is more like a lush painting than it is a movie. Striking visuals, masterful panoramas (yes, panoramas, not panoramae. Wiki it.), rich orchestration and not to mention bloody brilliant dialogue delivery
  
  
• I am yet to see the 1995 Colin Firth version, but have heard only good things about it
  
  
• I admit, I started P and P, never to finish it - but I blame the teeny black and white printout I took. That was a mistake. A big mistake. I am making amends though - I'm getting a brand new copy of the unabridged, paperback version in a couple of days, so I can sink in and lose myself in it. Hats off to my lil sis for finishing it earlier than me (of course you had it easier - no office work, no status reports, no meetings and generally, a little more energy. Don't even argue.)
  
  
• Mr.Darcy - pause while I melt - is that guy. Really. (yes ladies, I hear the collective swooning in the background) and Elizabeth Bennett, in one way or another, is something we all have been/want to be/had to be at some point in our lives - strong, independent, intelligent and resourceful (I'm not a feminist. really. I like what this quote says "Timothy Leary - 'Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.'" Haah.)

So ends Part 1. But only because I have some other stuff to juggle... I'llll be back....