I went to my first flamenco show since I arrived in Spain, called "Algo más que flamenco", playing at El Teatro Arlequín. The spectacle is meant to showcase the different regional dances of Spain, focusing on flamenco primarily but also giving us glimpses of the Zarzuela, Muñeira, Aurresku, etc.
While watching the dancers I couldn´t help be reminded to Indian Kathak dance. Some of the turns, hand movements and the use of feet for rythym are so strikingly similiar. Actually, flamenco has Indian origins as the gypsies, or Rom people, are said to have originated from what is now Rajasthan. Of course, then flamenco received a melting pot of influences from all the different cultures that inhabited Spain. Speaking of which, today Madrid´s summer event series "verano en la calle" had a group called Musafir, gitanos de Rajasthan that played in the park. Sad I missed it. Here you have some clips of Flamenco and Kathak. I love the last video in particular.
I just got back from Sala Triangulo in Lavapies, a small theatre that is one of the venues for the Imagine India Festival. I went to see Superman of Malegaon by Faiza Ahmed Khan, a documentary about a small village some hundred-something kilometers outside of Mumbai. You would think this would be a normal, textile-industry dominated town, or gaanv, but, like all small villages, there are town personalities and legends at every doorstep. While this sleepy town may be close to the heart of Bollywood, it couldn't be further away from the escapist dreams the industry produces. Malegaon reminds us of another time, a lost Gandhi-era village.
One man is determined to put Malegaon on the map. His dream: cinematographer. His weapon: a camcorder. His crew: the village. His mission: to make a Superman movie that boldly goes where none have gone before...into Malegaon. Although recognizing that he is essentially "copying" Superman, he makes sure to let the viewer realize that Superman itself has been retold time and time again, and that in essence, all movies are the same plot...the hero, the villain, the heroine sandwhich. What he says is that his goal is to make an "indianization" or more aptly put, a "malegaonization" of Superman to put it into local context. One of his team of crew labels the movie "a technical comedy parody", whatever that means.
Supermalegaon, as I will christen this unlikely superhero, is no man of steel. A skinny man of matchstick limbs, meek eyes and a great Shahrukh Khan haircut, his body mass index falls terribly short of matching up to the Superman we've come to imagine in pop culture. His anatomy alone is a large part of the comedic relief. However, there is something so beautiful in the sacrifices the actor makes to meet the village director's demands and his level of motivation. He floats on an inflatable tube in a river full of cows, he gets flung by a truck into a trench of gutter water at the side of the road (blegh!), he endures hours of lying on a plank in front of a homemade green screen...all without complaining and yes, all in a ridiculous Superman costume. He's even willing to take leave from work to do this movie.
In the end, what you start to realize as the viewer is that the crew, the actors and extras, the audience, and even the main red-cloaked protagonist himself, these are all the village. The village will be the spectator, it is the character and it is the creator of the movie...made for the people by the people in a most literal fashion. All along the way, like a bee jumping from flower to flower, the documentary grazes over different important themes being debated in India: the role of women in the house and in work, religious tolerance (Supermalegaon "loves Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs, he loves them all"), and economic livelihoods of India's lower-middle income class.
However, one of the greatest feats that perhaps is the essence of movie is how innovation and motivation coincide at the crossroads of Malegaon. Krypton is substituted for a grazing area in the wilderness, an infloatable tube becomes a space capsule, a cell phone out of a child-toy imitation, junkyard finds are collected to make use of for props on the set. What is more, is how the film production team is able to create a feature using what looks to be Windows 98, a small camera (that gets dropped several times) and use replicate special effects on a low budget. If anyone has seen Be Kind, Rewind by Michel Gondry you will know what "sweded" means. Thats the closest thing that I can think of to describe this ingenuity.
There were three moving points in the movie for me. At one part in the film, light is shed (no pun intended) on the several electricity cuts that the villagers must face on a regular basis, affecting their livelihoods as these spells basically shut down businesses. During this time, a poem by one of the villagers is read. I wish I could get a copy of these words because they were truly moving, the voice of the village. During the recitation of this poetry, imagery was shown of a fire in the absence of electric light, and you could almost imagine the words flickering out with the cinders upon being said.
Another poignant moment came at the beginning when the film director of the movie (not to be confused with the documentary), took out all the old posters he had collected during his time as a cinema house owner. An odd mix, from Rambo, to Sholay to Charlie Chaplin, to Jason and the Argonauts, but beautifully hand-painted in the style that has made Bollywood posters world-famous and appreciated as its own genre of art. His whole life seemed to be defined by memories of watching these movies, and similar to how someone whould show us a photo album, these seemed to be his life moments best captured.
Who stole the show for me? None other than the villager that plays Lex Luther...definately the highlight of the movie. The way the documentary filmmaker captured the actress who plays the heroine in the movie, dressed in a Barbie pink salwar kameez and relishing in her role as " the movie actress diva" was also unintentionally hilarious. If the movie sirens are like this from a nearby neighboring village, one can only imagine how they must be off-set in Bollywoodland. Also, not to be missed is the closing credit music remix sequence, a hit that had me thumping my toe. Makes me want to see the final movie result, although at the end of the documentary, clips of the actual film are shown. One of my favorite movies from now on for sure. Below you can find the brief trailer and a program from Al Jazeera about the film that shows one of my favorite shooting moments, the green screen!
From May 18-29, 2010 Madrid will benefit from a cultural festival dealing primarily with film, but including several cultural acts as well. You can see the full programme here and see the official website as well.
Just read in the news that Kuwait 98.4 FM is going to have a new show dedicated to Indian film music and entertainment news, 6 pm on Friday. I am so excited!!
This week, a lot is going down in Kuwait. Here are some of the events (that I know of) that you might be interested in taking a look at...you're welcome!
1. Festival of India
The “Festival of India in Kuwait” is being organized from November 8-14, 2009, under the ambit of the India-Kuwait Cultural Exchange Programme 2009-2011 that was signed in April 2009 during the visit to Kuwait by Hon’ble M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India. The Festival is being co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, and the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL), State of Kuwait.
It looks nothing short of amazing and you can check out the line up of performers, dancers, artists, cultural exhibitions, etc at this link with the schedule that Al-Watan Daily has kindly provided:
Personally, I am very excited to see the Odissi dance, which has always been one of my favorite Indian folk dances. Just check this video out if you are not convinced!
2. Lecture by Thomas Modeen
Thomas Modeen will present a lecture on "Kuwait School Manifesto ـ 8 Maxims & Designs" on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 7:00 p.m. at the Al-Maidan Cultural Center. Thomas Modeen is currently teaching at Kuwait University, Department of Architecture and Department of Art and Design, and he is a fellow blogger that can be found at http://smarchitecture.blogspot.com/
3. PechaKucha Night No. 3!
This is the third volumeof the successful concept devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide.
Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.
Check out previous videos by presenters from Volume 1 and 2 at KASA Kuwait's youtube account. Here is information on Volume 3: Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 7:30pm - 9:30pm, Mövenpick Hotel & Resort @ Bida'
PKN #3 Presenters: Farah Behbehani, Ismael Abedin, Dana Al-Hasan, FareedAbdal, Loaay Ahmed, Teddy B, Abd Al-rahman Al-Terkait
4. Cinemagic Opening
Its that time of the year where we can all slowly peek from our air-conditioned cocoons and enjoy the bright selection of critically acclaimed and assorted movies that the fabulous Mr. Michael Habre delights us with at Cinemagic Productions. Did I mention admission is FREE and free popcorn and refreshments are provided??
The film on Saturday, November 14th is entitled Banishment from Russia (2007), directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev, and here is the following description:
A husband, wife and two children come from an industrial city to the countryside, to the husband’s birthplace, to stay in his father’s old house. In contrast to the old setting, the new setting is Nature. It is a setting of breathtaking rolling hills, the bottom of a prehistoric sea, and fertile land, all lying in the ruins of dislike. It is sad even though it is proud. It doesn’t let on. It will demand great sacrifice. And no one will hold back the hand the father raises against his son. The voice crying out will not be heard. The lamb will not replace the son. For the one who rises the knife has ears that cannot hear, eyes that can not see, and a heart that can not feel. Yet his belief in the “law” of human pride is vehement and inexhaustible, as vehement as his remorse.
Bollywood MEGA star Shahrukh Khan was detained last week in Newark Airport for two hours after being suspected as a high alert security threat for his Muslim last name, only being set free upon intervention from the Indian Embassy in the United States.
In a complete irony of fate chockful of spice, Khan was in the US to promote his new film, My Name Is Khan, that tells the story of a Muslim Indian wrongly profiled and detained for being falsely implicated with the 9/11 terrorist plot.
Of course, while held up the Bollywood actor dropped the fact that he was a famous superstar, but apparently Newark authorities do not have access to a google search toolbar.
Nothing delights me more than the fact that The Daily Show covered a segment on this.
I have had so many people ask me, "so what did you think of Slumdog Millionaire?" given my track record of interest in Indian slum politics. While I have been holding out on writing a review or reaction, what I do have to say is that not ALL Bollywood films are mere gloss and escapism and many of the undercurrents and themes in the movie can be found in several Bollywood films that seek to expose urban poverty in a realistic light, and secondly not ALL Indian films are Bollywood films. There is an independent, non-musical film genre in India as well.
With these two points laid out, I would like to turn the attention to a movie I watched about five years ago as a first-year student at the university during my old uni's monthly international film screening. I have since seen the movie several times and own it. It is Salaam Bombay (click here to watch the trailer) by now-renowned director Mira Nair (of The Namesake and Monsoon Wedding), for whom the movie was her first major production, released in 1988. Unlike Slumdog Millionaire, most of the child actors in the movie were actual streetchildren, who received an intensive acting workshop to prepare for the roles. The movie also touches upon rougher subjects in more depth and with harsher consequences, such as prostitution and the law, drug dependency, theft, and inequality.
My favorite scene in the film is when Krishna and his large gang of friends from the street get hired to serve food at a local wedding. They are suddenly taken out of their dirty, pedestrian clothes and put into cartoonish (I believe red) serving uniforms. As they are serving food you can tell how much they value the food and would love to have some. More strikingly, they are serving food not only to adults but to other children their same age, but who find themselves on the other, more happy side of the poverty fence: children who can afford to enjoy childhood. At one point a chubby boy greedily serves himself to a fistful of fried snacks on the serving tray that Krishna is carrying, and if I remember correctly (I might be mistaken) makes him drop the tray or almost drop it. Krishna automatically slaps the boy across the face, to the upper class boy's utter dismay and shock. In its sadness, there are many such amusing sequences.
The lead character, Krishna, is hauntingly played by Shafiq Syed. More than anything, this movie should have been a warning sign of the problems slumchildren face upon receiving instant fame. Syed won the National Film Award for Best Child Actor, the movie went to Cannes and was nominated for the BAFTA, Golden Globe and Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Picture. Syed, then 12 also received praise and attention for his mature portrayal of a poor, orphaned street chaiwala or tea delivery boy (sound familiar?), and the makers of the film had trust funds set up for the actors. Now Shafiq Syed is an autorickshaw driver in Bangalore. If you want to see a more realistic, non-Bollywood format, but Indian-directed movie, then I encourage you to see the original, more sedate-or as Mr. Amitabh Bachchan would put it-the lesser "poverty porn" of its genre.
Event: Bollywood Cinema Paintings: indian film art from the 1950s to 1980
Type: Art Exhibition
Host: the sultan gallery & talta gallery [dubai] Place: sabhan, sadeer co, block 8, street 105, building no 168
About: telta gallery's collection of vintage bollywood cinema paintings forms rare and comprehensive retrospective. featuring bollywood icons and award-winning films spanning over 25 years of film industry's history. the series embodies the quirky and colorful style od india's cinema culture - a growing fascination in the west and a deep cultural tradition in the east.
sustainable urbanization - livable cities - international politics - fair trade - ethical and inclusive globalization - international development and cooperation - economic, social and cultural rights - slum housing rights - equal access for all to the arts
The Eternal UN Declaration of Human Rights
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Jeremy Waldron assesses the Universal Declaration of Human Rights' enduring
relevance to establishing the ethics of global responsibility.
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