India`s Daughter, a scream from a sister half way across the world

The ghost of 2012 Delhi Gang rape is here to haut the nation again, making people cringe and boil with a sense of angst at the same time.  

Government`s response

The government's decision to put a restrain on the documentary is hardly a surprise but not totally unjustified. The state has played its part, and done that pretty fine. Although the case is pending in Supreme Court, out of the six accused, four are on a death row, one has committed suicide and one is in juvenile prison. For the government, the film is giving fuel to a fire it has put out the best way it could, within its capability. The Justice Verma Report and the subsequent Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance 2013 are proof that the problem lies not with the state but the society. When a red faced Rajnaath Singh says that the government is going to take action against BBC, then he is talking more as a member of a shamed society whose shortcomings are being rubbed into the face, than a statesman who is on a banning binge.

Freedom of speech, really?

This is not a usual case of freedom of speech or artistic freedom. Rape is a very sensitive issue and can't be dealt like any other issue under the umbrella term, Freedom of Speech. The point is, will the film bring a change, serve a purpose?

There have been a lot of documentaries and films about the increasing rape culture in India along with other pressing issues relating to women in the past which have come and gone without occupying any substantial space in the media or people`s thought processes. None has resulted in the decline of rape cases or even the initiation of a dialogue at the ground level. Sex is still a taboo in India and what is required is a need to start a dialogue, free and meaningful.

The Big Sister calls

The buzz created around India`s Daughter is majorly because it's a BBC production and can be considered as a third person`s perspective. But has Leslee Udwin done justice to the subject of a universal social evil, by narrowing down her study on a specific yet in no way insignificant atrocity? Could her inquiry into the matter, as an international commentator been more holistic if she had taken a broader worldwide view, included the tussle between genders and an underlying primordial animal behavior in such cases, be it in Steubenville or France?  The documentary seems to be looking for a black cat in a room with lights turned off.  Or just saying that there is a black cat in the room.

According to a BBC survey, 230 women are raped in UK everyday and less than 1 in a 100 people get convicted for the same. Yet Leslee Udwin`s decision to give voice to her sisters, so territorially and culturally removed from her seems weird, almost resembling a white burden of some sort. Maybe the brutality of the rape had attracted her imagination, which is well explored in the film. But isn't this falling into the downward spiral of sensationalism in Journalism? Choosing an event more shocking than others ( yet in no way the most shocking, she could have found even more pathetic realities here or elsewhere) based on its content quality?

Solution, precipitate or nothing at all?   

But the BBC television director Danny Cohen has said that the film, ' Has a strong public interest of crating awareness about  a global problem.' and the inductive logic of the documentary gives some strong causes to rape as a phenomenon, like changing economy , patriarchy and social deprivation, but the solutions it brings to the discussion are quite generic and not unprecedented ' should bes'  like education and changing people`s mindset. More than a critical inquiry into an ignominious social evil, the film is a multi-narrative of the blood curding incident on December 16, 2012, which certainly makes the head hang but doesn't bring anything concrete to the table. Shame has never deterred a criminal from a crime nor has repetition changed perceptions. The interview with one of the main accused in the case is proof enough how difficult it is to change someone`s view point. However the film has undoubtedly reinforced viewer`s opinion by giving it an authoritative BBC kind of voice.

Postscript

Will the Indian society or the world at large learn anything from the heart rendering reality of Jyoti Singh? Will it make those who need to introspect, wait for a moment in their lives and think again? Or will it just make rape the new starving kid in Somalia human interest story and after a while the desensitized viewer will forget the worth of Mr. and Mrs. Singh`s tears?  

The documentary is a definite reminder, a shocker,  that the world has yet not forgotten about Nirbahya, even though most people have moved on to other issues, to different pandals at Jantar Mantar. In the end the relevance of the film can only be established on the basis of weather it incites frustration or leads to a constructive dialogue in the society. 

Bricks and stones can break your bones but words can hurt as hell : Poetry Slam in Delhi

Pen is mightier than the sword and words are more powerful than punches. An ensemble of poets and artists in Delhi are proving just that by voicing their opinion through poems.

Delhi Poetry Slam(DelSlam),which came into existence in December 2013, gives a platform to various 'word performers' from poets to hip-hop lyricists. Slam is a world phenomenon in poetry which began in the 90s and has revitalized poetry recitals since, usually considered drab and boring. The new form, aggressive and vocal, is mostly a personal narrative of things unsaid or unsung.

The recitals try to combine poetry with theater, dance and music, making poetry recitation more appealing. A recent video of Rene Verma giving a much needed verbal bashing to Yo Yo Honey Singh through her rap poetry was part of the monthly poetry recitation event organized by the group.

Apart from giving space to Indian poets and artists, the sessions also  attempt to create a global poetry culture in Delhi by showcasing foreign artists. According to Saumya Chaudhary, manager at Delhi Slam Poetry, creating ' Multiculturalism' is a big underlying idea of the whole project. Regarding the content of the shows, she said, 'The poets talk about everything from personal to political. We have poets taking about falling in love to searching for identity. It's all very diverse.'

Usually the recitals have a planned 45 odd minutes of featured artists followed by an open mike session which invites the members of the audience to perform.  

         

'In US, performances considered best mostly display angst. But there are a lot of underlying emotions within anger as well, which need to be explored. There can be fear beneath anger, and insecurity beneath fear.' says Nichole Sumner, the mentor at DelSlam. Having been an activist in the US, she now emcees DelSlam sessions apart from organizing workshops on poetry in schools and colleges, 'To help give a voice to children and young adults.'

DelSlam provides a non judgmental space to people who have something to say and seek an opportunity to say it. It is a kind of space which the minorities, political or sexual, can use freely to talk about their reality, along with mainstream rebels and romantics. 

                 

Alternate Movie Reviews#1 - Birdman

      Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

                                    - directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

Cast-

a Certain Uncle - Barack Obama

Brat Guy - Vladimir Putin

a Certain Uncle`s twisted Daughter - Narendra Modi

Insecure Actress - some unknown insecure actress

Sidekick Actress - some unknown sidekick actress (maybe insecure but doesn't show.)

Birdman is a powerful unintentional satire or prophesy about the world and what grabs the viewer by the nuts is the vaguely real, bordering on quasi- Kafkaesque story line.

The movie starts with a Certain Uncle suspended in midair, a possible yogic posture or maybe a Godot of a situation or a Black Hawk ready to attack. It becomes clear that he is trying to revive the glory of his past accomplishments as a superhero ( WW2, Cold War, Afghanistan, Iraq) which ended with a flopped black comedy, Vietnam. A Certain Uncle, to be a superhero again, has adapted a Raymond Carver`s short story for a Broadway performance, which just seem to have one dialogue regarding how true love is (or isn't) about killing people. The play is sure to suck, as the movie in the beginning suggests.

After the Certain Uncle injures a lead actor ( Pakistan) by his psychic abilities ( yes he does seem to possess them, destroying things without touching them, which is quite ironic because the things he does want to affect, like his relation with his daughter or girlfriend or the world in general, seem not to be affected, touched or untouched), Brat Guy comes in to rescue the production.

Now, Brat Guy from the start has an upper hand as he is not only a better actor but is also artistically very weird ( or more weird) ( he tries to bone the Insecure Actress on stage { the preview show becomes a major hit when he steps out of the bed, on stage, with a " Massive hard-on"} and Ukraine doesn't take it in good artistic spirit.) Brat Guy seems more at home in the world (theater) doing everything according to his whim, while a Certain Uncle just keeps fucking things up for being in control and what not.

A Certain Uncle also has a twisted Daughter, played superbly by Narendra Modi. She is just out of rehab after ten long years and is trying to be, well, inconspicuous, and fit into the world. She is a mess, even after being inactive for ten years. The relationship of the Twisted Daughter with a Certain Uncle is a complicated mixture of hate, admiration and frustration( she is his ' assistant' but actually can just as well be considered a helping hand, a woman Friday.) What she says ( will walk, talk and even roll around if it gets her a nice treat) and what she does ( smoke pot behind his back) are two polar opposite things.  But she surely seems to have the hots for Brat Guy. They eventually bone too, which doesn't seem to sit well with the Certain Uncle but begets her a promise of 12 nuclear power stations and hell lot of oil and natural gas, courtesy, Brat Guy.  

While all this is happening a Certain Uncle is haunted by his Birdman superhero past, which in a husky military general voice keeps telling him that he is ummm... a motherfucker and a no good and a wash out and all that kind of jazz. But a Certain Uncle is hell bent on being ' Relevant' again and chooses to ignore the George W Bush voice in his head, and carries on his innocuously innocent plans of performing a lame-ass show for the world.  

A sequence towards the end of the movie is quite interesting in this respect, i.e a Certain Uncle`s desire, bordering on an obsessive compulsive need, to prove himself worthwhile again, to be a world saving hero. A Certain Uncle realizing that the Brat Guy is humping his Twisted Daughter,  goes out to well, let the cigarette do the venting for him, and involuntary finds himself locked out of the world with the end of his robe stuck in the door. A Certain Uncle, who has to get into the world to prove himself and well, act his part in the play, takes off his robe and marches in his immaculate white and quite tight briefs and enters the world from the front door. Hell is raised. His semi-naked video ( about training Al-Qaeda and making out with Saddam Hussein) goes viral. The play is a hit.

But these were just preview shows, and the main critic, Old Woman who Licked a Homeless Guy`s Ass, has not even seen a single one of them, though is ready to trash the whole thing and throw him out of business, as she tells a Certain Uncle in a bar. Basically Israel is pissed because she isn't as famous as the Certain Uncle and doesn't want him to take the limelight away from her as the main Muslim killing machine.  A Certain Uncle gets very fucking upset and throws crap at her, which is the usual shit a washed out artist tells a disapproving world, that she can`t 'feel' and she just labels, she doesn't  'see' but just..well whatever. Old Woman who Licked a Homeless Guy`s Ass is unperturbed.

Just before the main show, a Certain Uncle has a major but uplifting psychotic episode. He gives in to his past, who is now walking ( and flying) and talking to him visibly in reel-time, dressed as the Birdman. A Certain Uncle jumps off a building and with impressive drone attacks destroys Iran, Syria and is ready to save the world( himself?) from the Islamic terrorists by being ready ( finally) to kick the world in the nuts. He glides down  in front of the world from his world conquering but imagined feat and goes in without paying the taxicab driver who actually got him there and is a poor, beaten and fobbed off Red Indian.

A Certain Uncle goes into his dressing room, picks up a real gun ( which is supposed to be not real and just a prop) and goes on stage, says his lines and BOOM! blows his brains out. Old Woman who Licked a Homeless Guy`s Ass, is the first to leave, hurriedly.   

This is quite unlike a Certain Uncle and might hint at his presence in the China occupied Tibet, where he might have learnt Vipassana meditation and probably the art of self sacrifice. The viewer is made to believe that the miserable fuck of a Certain Uncle has finally said good bye to his meaningless life, but, no. The viewer is reminded of the dialogue between the Certain Uncle and W Bush voiced Birdman, ' ...and rise again like a Phoenix..'  Well, that's what happens. He is miraculously saved. The certain unworthy a Certain Uncle has paid for his, well, arrogance and dumbness in real life blood and every critic is sold. Even Old Woman who Licked a Homeless Guy`s Ass, who writes the best review.

A Certain Uncle turned Phoenix now looks surprisingly like a ripped off Birdman himself ( with sucky art direction and costume design) but he doesn't stop hallucinating and sees W Bush again, taking a dump and sounding disappointed with him. So he goes to the window, and well...yes, jumps off.

The last scene of the movie is quite symbolic. A tired and shaken, Narendra Modi enters her father`s room and obviously because he isn't there, and the window is open, she goes there panicking and freaking out, sure to see her father`s body, a mere pulp on the sidewalk. But no, the viewer is made to believe, through her gaze that he is not down there, but up in the sky, probably flying, soaring high like a Black Hawk, destroying and killing innocent people, without even touching them.

The beautifully cinematic experience that Birdman provides to a viewer ( if the ripped copy is of good quality) is majorly because of two reasons.

a) the balanced real life CC and

b) the one long shot that the movie is shot in ( and some montage sequences at the end)

It is a movie about a nation relapsing into its normal abnormal self and its good Republican propaganda for next US elections.