Help yourself with this one!

Calling The Help a ‘fair’ movie would be racist. At least in the 1960s of USA. More so in Mississippi where the movie is peculiarly set. But the notable part is it’s not only entertaining and educative but also inspiring and poignant at the same time. Adapted from a book titled the same, it deals with an era where the demarcation between the blacks and the whites in America was redoubtable. Mason-Dixon line was the norm. Despite all these not-so-modern day aberrations, one aspect was striking: almost all white kids in the town were nurtured by black maids.

Directed by Tate Taylor, who also happens to have written the screenplay, displayed intense sparks of genius in terms of storytelling. In this racial drama, Skeeter (Emma Stone) wishes to be a journalist-cum-writer. Running along this pursuit, she goes out of town only to return back and find her childhood maid Constantine (a powerful cameo by Cicely Tyson) sacked by her parents. This sets the tone for the movie. With the civil right movement gaining strength in the background, she decides to write a book so as to deliver the maids’ “side of stories”.

This is where Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer) enter the picture. Both are maids with emotional hardship to match as well as courageous enough to do what other maids aren’t prepared for – share their experiences with Skeeter. The former works for a somewhat indecisive Elizabeth (Ahna O'Reilly) whereas the latter, for a rather rude Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard). The book starts writing itself here onwards with Aibileen’s soothing voice in narration. But only two stories won’t do. Skeeter needs more maids to volunteer but who will rise against the white neighborhood’s imminent fear? Well, as the movie proceeds, many do. Willingly.

The Help touches the sentiment’s chord with a measured restrain. And that’s what works for it. It doesn’t try to vilify one group against another. No doubt it exposes the nexus of disdain among blacks for their apparent subjugation in the form of separate toilet and such. But then it also includes cheerful white characters Celia (Jessica Chastain) and Hilly’s liberal mother (played to perfection by Sissy Spacek). Furthermore, the movie strikes a right balance between comedy and tragedy.

Emma Stone has been the biggest surprise here. Her act does to this movie what Sandra Bullock’s did to ‘The Blind Side’. On the hindsight, 2011 hasn’t been very American for Hollywood due to the lack of race-related screenplays. The Help considerably fills that gap. It’s worth a watch.

And the Oscars goes to the dogs!

Some things are better watched live and some things, alive. You have to give it to Oscars for being the most articulated celebrity circus in showbiz. Well, this year’s Oscars fell somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t an epic disaster, so to speak, but still it lacked its quintessential spark. For starters, it lacked jokes. I don’t know about others but I don’t watch Oscars for fashion policing. I watch it for hilarity – the innocuous digs that the host takes at the A-list actors who in turn are left with no option but to join the laugh parade. This year’s Oscars was not only bereft of such could-have-been jocular moments but also the guy (read: TV show hosts/comedians) who usually carry out the deed.

At the risk of sounding ruthless, the emceeing wasn’t up-to-mark. But James Franco was as high as sky. The poor guy was stoned and on top of that, he had to act sober but failed miserably. He was way too busy smirking, giggling and forgetting his lines. His co-host, Anne Hathaway had to overcompensate for his lack of participation. Out of the two, Anne obviously did a better job. Her charming personality coupled with her singing and rapid wardrobe changing skills made her screen-time worthwhile. Yet it wasn’t enough.

There were some spectacular moments too. Thankfully. Like Kirk Douglas’ appearance on stage to present the Best Supporting Actress Award. At 94, with heavy breathy voice, he still remembers the art of entertainment. He cracked jokes on Australians, Colin Firth and even flirted with Melissa Leo before handing out the bald statuette. For the minutes he spent on stage, you couldn’t help thinking: Yes, Oscars is the country for old men. After all, the Academy ensures legends and the not-so-legendary oldies are paid their due respect.

This time around, they had Billy Crystal (who tickled the starry audience pink within seconds of entering) reminiscing an *encounter* with his idol Bob Hope on the very jocular stage he was standing, years ago. Then there were Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law who shared the stage and effortlessly created laughs. Randy Newman’s acceptance speech for Best Song crafted some genuine yet laughy instants.

Acceptance speeches are rarely pleasing to ears, let alone audacious or inspiring. This year was no different. But I liked the Best Documentary 'Inside Job' director Charles Ferguson’s assertive stand about the absence of recession-tainted corporate executives in jail. I remember Sean Penn doing something similar for gays’ rights when he won Best Actor in 2009. Then there was Tom Hopper who won Best Director for ‘The King’s Speech’ advising everyone to listen to their mothers for he did the same and was going home with the golden statue.

Needless to say, like millions of fellow Indians, I too dream of Oscars and revel in its unsubstantiated glory. This year had some Indians (Bollywoodians, to be precise) on the red carpet including Abhi-Ash and Ashutosh Gowariker. AR Rahman performed “If I Rise” on stage. Moreover, the musical engineer had two nominations for Danny Boyle’s ‘127 Hours’ which he didn’t win. Boyle who struck gold two years ago with ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, was the biggest loser this year as his movie couldn’t pick up a single win out of six nods.

And yes, there was Tariq Anwar who failed to grab the award for Best Editing in ‘The King’s Speech’. This was his second nomination after ‘American Beauty’. Had he won, he could have become the first post-Slumdog Indian to grab an Oscar. Sigh.

Christian Bale won the Best Supporting Actor for his skinny role in ‘The Fighter’. Natalie Portman bagged Best Actress for her irritating but awesome portrayal of a ballerina in ‘Black Swan’. Colin Firth was anyway the sole man in Best Actor’s race with his stammering in TKS so there were no surprises there. TKS also won the Best Picture award. Deservedly so, I must add.

When I say Oscars has gone to the dogs, I’ve got undeniable reasons. Christopher Nolan was snubbed as usual. He wasn’t even nominated for direction. Just imagine ‘Inception’ without Nolan’s imagination. Difficult, isn’t it? For all we know, the Academy has issues with geniuses like him. Darren Aronofsky and Roger Deakins (and many more) also belong to this helpless club. Formidable movies like 'True Grit' and 'Winter’s Bone' went home empty-handed. Well, '127 Hours' wasn't the favorite in the first place.

In some way, watching Oscars, having no inkling what the Academy is all about, I mean, who are these people who get to vote, helps a lot. Perhaps, for all its annual exaggerations, Oscars deserves a lifetime achievement award as well as retirement.

Whatever.

No matter how dull it was on television, we, on Twitter, successfully snubbed Monday morning blues thanks to Oscars. Yup. So that’s a brownie point there. Meanwhile, I learned a trick or two for my celebrated “career”. You see, I’m thinking of doing a James Franco in my office some night. I’ll let you know once I do it. Or maybe after I undo it.

A big deal called Oscars!

Oscars ended yesterday morning and as usual, I’m delayed on my blogging. Not a big deal considering the kind of blog-following I garner! Hahahahha

No matter how clichéd and OTT Oscars are, no one can deny its power of magnetism, the grandiose of its operation thanks to all the actors who are stars, unimaginable. So keeping all these factors in mind, I woke up at 3.30 am to make sure I don’t miss any of it. But thanks to my haphazard knowledge of timing and all, I wasted much of my sleep as the show was scheduled at 6.30 am. Not a big deal either!

The show kicked off with a song by Neil Patrick Harris as if he was following suit to last year’s host Hugh Jackman who too started off with a song! But as things turned out, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin descended from above to take their position as this year’s host. And for the record, this was the first time in television age that two hosts took stage! And they were hilarious taking digs at almost everyone under the ceiling including Meryl Streep and George Clooney. The only guy who was spared the jokes butt was Tiger Woods because the Academy thought the jokes would be too rude on his already blemished character!!

The first award of the ceremony, Best Supporting Actor was handed to Christoph Waltz, a little known, Austrian stage and TV actor who blew our minds off with his inch-perfect performance as a SS “Jew Hunter” in Inglourious Basterds and he was also immaculate while delivering his acceptance speech. I guess he deserved that award moreover, for speaking four languages in that movie!

Sadly, other than this award for Waltz, Inglourious Basterds was largely snubbed by the Academy as it was nominated in seven other categories but came out zilch on podium! I badly wanted it to win for Original Screenplay and was also wishing for Tarantino to bag his Best Director award and pull brake on the duel between James Cameron (Avatar) and Katherine Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)!

Not a big deal either, because Katherine Bigelow created history by becoming the first woman Director ever to win an Oscars. In simpler words, she defeated her ex-husband Cameron in the “Battle of the Ex-es”! Indeed a proud day, and coincidentally it was International Women’s Day too!!

The Hurt Locker was also adjudged the Best Picture and by that, it also became the lowest box-office grossing movie ever to win Oscars! Additionally, it also defeated the most successful movie ever, Avatar, to the gold. In fact, Avatar won in just three of the nominated nine categories. Personally, I’m glad Avatar lost the Best Picture to The Hurt Locker as the latter was a pack-budgeted movie with real story to tell. I mean, no disrespect to Cameron and his team for their fantastic endeavor that took 15 years in the making. Still, Avatar had its share of success at the BO so let The Hurt Locker ring the bell on the download sites!

One movie that came, saw and conquered (like predicted) was the animation masterpiece "UP"...was my favorite animated movie of the year!

Best Actor and Actresses were predictable with Jeff Bridges winning his first on his overall fifth nomination for “Crazy Heart” and his speech was emotional too. I first acknowledged his talent in “Arlington Road” and that character is one of the reasons why I took up teaching job on weekends. So no wonder am happy that he got the statuette!

Sandra Bullock was graceful on her big win for “The Blind Side” though I badly wanted my favoritest actress of all time, Meryl Streep to win as she holds the record for the most number of Oscars nominations for any actor at 16 but with just 2 wins! So obviously I wanted her to take the tally to 3…..which woefully didn’t happen!

Last year, we had a lot Indian thing going on at Oscars with Slumdog Millionaire, Jai Ho and Smile Pinky. This year, the only Indian connection I saw was the nomination of “Kavi” in the Best Short Film Category. Apparently, it didn’t win. Other than that, I found Indian connection in Sonia Bhalla who was the Second Assistant Director in “Up in the Air” which was nominated in six categories but won nothing! Not a big deal either!

There were many emotional moments too (like it happens every single time!) and it reveals to us the fact that these so-called stars are humans too with hardship, perseverance and their sacrifice for movies and life and everything that comes in between.

Its amazing how everyone at Oscars turns up in tuxedo and gowns and keep the Oscar tradition alive whereas we don't see much of sarees or achkan or any other Indian attires at display in our trite award functions!

Prison makes beautiful CINEMA!

I just finished watching a movie you most probably haven’t heard of yet. It’s a French movie called ‘Un Prophète’ (A Prophet) and is nominated for Best Foreign Language at Oscars this year. The movie is about a guy in prison who rises from nobody to somebody by the time he completes his sentence. Needless to say, the movie is great or else I wouldn’t have dedicated a blog to its sake.

But the real reason behind my blogging here is the “prison” part of cinema and the question that why does it fascinates us so much. I mean to say, I seem to get a touch when I’m watching a jail-related movie be it ‘An Innocent Management’, ‘Lock Up’, ‘The Baader Meinhof Complex’, ‘Hunger’, ‘Papillon’, ‘American History X’, ‘The Counterfeiters’, ‘Dead Man Walking’ or ‘The Green Mile’.

In fact, my all-time favorite movie, “The Shawshank Redemption” is about prison-life, in and out. “Midnight Express” is one such movie that comes close to the very best of all. In Hindi movies, I found "3 Deewarein" (3 Walls)to be a perfect execution of a brilliant story that entangles three different personalities.

I believe the attraction to this kind of movies arises from the fact that we relate to the characters on the screen. We understand why they feel the angst of screeching their nails on the slammer wall. Somewhere in us, we see the rationality of not being there in a prison but at the same time also understand the volatility of reaching there if we get caught on the wrong side of law. After all, everyone wants to be free but when you are locked up, all you have is free time.

Prisons are wonderful. Wonderful, in a sense, it is just like our life. All we have to do is get accustomed to it. Just like in our life. We get accustomed to our mother’s love; get accustomed to schooling and education, followed by jobs we love or hate and then to societal obligations. All this happens exactly the same way in a prison too. The guy who gets used to it survives.

There are not a lot of directors out there who can handle the intricacies that comes with making a movie on cell life. Its very difficult to capture the essence of a prisoner in captivity where his body is interned but his mind is free to wander like Javier Bardem’s character does in “Before Night Falls” or to show the humor of escaping like in “Stalag 17”.

Coming back to ‘Un Prophète’, I want it to beat the German masterpiece ‘The White Ribbon’ which is the overwhelming favorite at the Oscars that will be announced on March 7, 2010.