A scene from the Hindi film ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’
Film critics can be unexpectedly shy when pressed to make recommendations. You would think it was their job description, yet they hold back. I know: whenever they are cornered in conversation by friends and colleagues and asked to “recommend something,” they blink politely and indecisively. What is disturbing is the simplistic nature of the demand: a good thriller, a romantic comedy, a weekend binge. There is little accounting for subjective taste, individual imagination (theirs or mine). The connecting tissue that links films in our minds is much more capricious and slippery than that, and cannot be confined to genres and subgenres.
Thus, this column represents an attempt to change things up, to suggest movies and shows on our own terms. Every other weekend, my colleagues and I Hindu The cinema team will suggest titles connected to a mood, theme or pop-culture phenomenon.
To kick things off in the sultry end of June, I write on movies about escape.
Last month, while the Cannes Film Festival was on in the Mediterranean, India was in the grip of a blistering heatwave. It affected voting; Shah Rukh Khan suffered a heatstroke while watching an IPL match in Ahmedabad. It was also the season of summer blockbusters: sand, fire and chrome Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga The screen almost burned out.
Parvati, Irrfan Khan in ‘Qarib Qarib Single’
Sitting at my desk, I began thinking about escaping to cooler climes in cinema. The idea that a change of place (and, more importantly, a change of season) can have a liberating effect on the body and soul is an old one in fiction. Movies, in particular, are designed to cater to this inner need for escape.
One of the great films titled Summer is Ingmar Bergman’s film with monica summers (1953). In the film Monica, played by Harriet Andersson, falls in love with Harry, a dreamy young man who works in a factory. They leave ordinary Stockholm and move to the vast archipelago off its coast; they live on a boat, make coffee, smoke cigarettes, kiss and wander about. There is a famous scene where Monica, aroused by the wind and waves, bathes nude in a tidal pool. Harry watches from a distance, as if cherishing this happy image in his heart.
Hindi films have long portrayed a love for the outdoors. Given our tropical climate, this usually manifests itself in escaping to the mountains. From ‘Suhaana Safar’ Madhumati (1958) sees Dilip Kumar singing while passing through Ranikhet near Nainital; Anupama (1966) Dharmendra meets Sharmila Tagore in Mahabaleshwar. Tagore was also ‘Kaali’ in this film. Bud of Kashmir (1964), whose hero Shammi Kapoor became a veritable icon of Kashmiri tourism in the movies. At that time, Kapoor’s characters needed the slightest excitement but would flee to the mountains (the late icon loved Kashmir so much that when he died in 2011, his ashes were immersed in Dal Lake).
Interestingly, in recent decades it is Kapoor’s grandson Ranbir who has brought the outdoor movement back into vogue: his films such as SpectacleYeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Anjaana Anjaani, Rockstar And Brahmastra All are shot like high-gloss travelogues. Meanwhile, for characters on a budget, look no further than Irrfan Khan and Parvati qarīqarī singleTravelling halfway across North India, or recently Vidya Balan and Pratik Gandhi Give and give loveCalming their nerves they are regaining their shine in the good old Ooty.
From Hindu Cinema Team, a fortnightly column that recommends movies and shows tied to a mood, theme or pop cultural phenomenon.
