3 idiots. la luna. u. dreams of taleem. hunger

i understand the fascination with ‘3 idiots’ completely. it knows its target audience like the back of its hand. if only i was proved wrong and it didn’t but the laughter in all the predictable places in the hall and the gushing enthusiasm of everyone who has seen it shows that the team behind the script and the marketing knew exactly what they were doing. it must be only me, grouch that i am, that the fart jokes, underwear jokes and the piss jokes were plain juvenile; or that the caricaturish stereotyping of outsiders like studious tamilians or the poor or the sick was vicious. and in between all of this crowd pleasing ( for the target ausience is clearly the 22 year old almost adolescent men who would idolize pissing on doors as a sign of rebellion- or 39 year olds who wish they had done so in the non-existent glory days of their pasts) is the sermonizing- all done by the incredibly annoying aamir khan. he preaches to the principal, the parents, the girlfriend, the friends and to us about what learning is, what love is, what duty is, what truth is. and if this was not enough he does it while pretending to be a college kid by slouching his shoulders and raising his eyebrows and looking jaunty. that’s all it takes for a reviewer to say he acts well. around him is a cast that does not ham it as much. madhavan is workable while sharman joshi actually manges to be likeable. and even kareena kapoor is better. but joining aamir in the awful annoyance category is boman irani who rehashes his domineering patriarch role yet again- but this time with another fake accent.

another awful- but quite ina different way- was bertolucci’s ‘la luna’. an opera singer and her lustful relationshiop with her son- in italy. a ridiculous plot made even more so by everyone being just so serious about all the ridiculous mom on son sexuality. some rubbing, some kissing- all lit in gorgeous golden light. soap opera arty style.

‘up’ was much better. pixar animation about a man who after losing his wife takes his house on a trip to south america to fulfill her dreams. beautifully made and really quite moving in so many parts. even though in the later half the villain leers and action sequences are par for the course, the beginning is lovely – especially when the house lifts off the ground for the first time and soars through the city.

‘dreams of taleem’ was sunil’s tribute to chetan datar. a play within a play where a diector (probably datar) and his lover rehearse 1 madhavbaug- a play written by datar about coming out to a mother. extremely moving in so many ways the themes echoed against one another in the narrative and the sudden flourishes of camp whether devdas or the men in silver tights made sure that everything did not become too preachy.

‘hunger’ told the story of bobby sands who starved to death in the 1980s in dublin to protest against the british governments stand in northern ireland. the film follows characters around the prison where he is being kept for a long time including a prison guard and other fellow prisoners through their days in confinement before a conversation between sands and a pastor sets up the finale where in excruciating detail bobby sands dies. beautifully made.