Casablanca (1942)

My Rating 7/10
[Work of Art 4/5, Sense of Life 3/5]

If a movie has a plot, and if tighter the plot finer the movie, then Casablanca has to be one of the finest movies of all time. There’s not a scene that’s purposeless, not a dialogue that’s arbitrary – each event grows from the preceding one – all of them leading to the resolution of a climax. And such climax! Two men in love with the same woman – the woman torn between respect for one and love for another – an airplane ready to soar to a free, new world – yet they must choose, as only two of them can make the journey.

The topmost portrayals of the movie to look forward to? The flamboyance of Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and the tense, profound relationship he shares with Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). They started and stopped seeing each other in Paris – a patch in their lives which both of them remember passionately. Things changed since then. A war began and raged on. Both judged and chose the direction of their lives, only to cross each other’s path once again. But matters are different now – the values remain the same, the circumstances alter. The director, Michael Curtiz, oversees, quite masterfully, the spiritual conflicts consuming the leading characters. It is, perhaps, the stoic control with which Rick leads his life that moves Ilsa to cry out, “You must decide for all of us.” He decides, and decides well. Toasting his love to Ilsa, Rick exclaims (and the dialogue would venture deep in the imagination of audiences for many years to come!), “Here’s looking at you, kid!”

Casablanca won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Is Mod Se Jaate Hain (Aandhi, 1975)

My Rating 8/10
[Work of Art 4/5, Sense of Life 4/5]

Music: R.D. Burman
Lyrics: Gulzar
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar
Portrayal: Suchitra Sen, Sanjeev Kumar

What else is romance than vying for the highest possibilities – aiming to reach a radiant utopia which serves as a backdrop to the actions of man! Such a backdrop is chosen by Aarti (Suchitra Sen) and J.K. (Sanjeev Kumar) – a backdrop dominated by imposing, blue mountains; sun-bathed, green hills rolling down smoothly to kiss the banks of a shimmering river. It is in this setting, amidst wavering shades of tall trees that the two lovers decide to spend a day of their existence.

Gulzar toasts an intoxicating drink of love – and as splendid artists as Suchitra Sen and Sanjeev Kumar were, they, high on love, portray the romance so finely that the audience almost comes to realise why love is an emotional response to one’s highest of values. It is thrilling to watch Suchitra Sen – clad in a saree that flutters in the breeze – hopping down the rolling slopes of the hill, blushing, smiling, stopping only in arms of a beaming Sanjeev Kumar. They tread the slopes and the forest hand-in-hand; they hum and sing, “Is mod se jaate hain kuch sust kadam raste, kuch tez kadam rahein.”

Suchitra Sen passed away recently on January 17, 2014. Considered to be the ‘queen’ of Bengali movies, Sen delivered power-packed performances in Hindi cinema as well. At the peak of her glittering career, she retired to a quiet life in 1979 – not to be seen anymore, not to be reached – perhaps living out her days doing what she liked. Her person is no more, yet her works and her glamour will live on – continuing to provide a peek into some radiant utopia!

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

My Rating 8/10

[Work of Art 4/5, Sense of Life 4/5]

“. . . There are places in the world that aren't made out of stone. There’s something inside that they can’t get to . . . that they can’t touch. That’s yours,” claims Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), an inmate at the Shawshank prison, serving two back-to-back life sentences for allegedly murdering his wife. He didn’t. Yet he never loses hope. He dreams of the Pacific, of a coastal town – ‘warm’ and ‘without memory’ – of starting a hotel there, and taking his guests out in a boat – ‘charter fishing’. The huge, drab walls of the prison, it seems, prove not to be a blockade enough for his soaring hopes. In fact, he makes friends, carves out pieces for a chessboard and erects a library – much to the delight of the fellows around, especially Red (Morgan Freeman), with whom he shares a profound bond. That bond is portrayed best when Andy sets out (and how!) to fulfil his dreams, and Red acknowledges that “some birds aren't meant to be caged; their feathers are just too bright”. He misses him; he gets a reason to get through his parole. He hopes that the Pacific is as blue as it has been in his dreams; he hopes to find his friend. He concedes that “hope is a good thing; may be best of things – and no good thing ever dies.”

A masterful tale of the spirit of man – a man who, in spite of crawling through a “river of shit, came out clean on the other side”; a saga of two friends redeeming their lives – from a place like Shawshank!        

Scent of a Woman (1992)

My Rating 7/10

[Work of Art 3/5, Sense of Life 4/5]

A retired colonel (Al Pacino) takes a young college boy (Chris O'Donnell) on a ‘tour of pleasures’ – and in the process offers him an insight into what it takes to be a man. One of the numerous such insights is when the colonel, quite boldly, strikes a conversation with an extremely beautiful girl (Gabrielle Anwar) and dances the tango with her, much to the delight of the young man. She feels afraid of making a mistake, but the colonel reassures her, “No mistakes in the tango . . . not like life. Simple. That makes tango so great! If you make a mistake, you get all tangled up – you just tango on.” That sort of boldness and heroism is on display again towards the end when the colonel explains to a packed auditorium – how to ‘prepare minnows for manhood’.

Al Pacino claimed the Oscar for Best Actor for his heroic portrayal of how to seek pleasures in life.