A rain scene, two films

A friend had an interesting chat status message last night. It said “My bro is a hero.” She told me a wonderful story when I asked her why.

The two were returning home from work when the motorbike they were riding was suddenly caught in the middle of a flooded road. The water got knee-high, and the boy was forced to stop the bike. He jumped off, and wouldn’t let his sister get off into the slush and water. He pushed her all the way to safety while she sat on the pillion.

The rain is said to evoke the most beautiful memories, but for those of us who have to make our way through the dangerously flooded roads of Bangalore, it is a nightmare. But the story I heard from my friend seemed like a heart-warming scene from a master filmmaker. “Shake your brother’s hand on my behalf,” I messaged her.

* * *

Last week, I saw the animation film Up, and a week before that, I happened to catch Kaminey. Up is made by the Americans, and has all the cutesy elements that go into a children’s film, but it is at the same time a simple, mature story about adventure, love, ambition, loss, and grief.

One of the most memorable scenes in the film shows a grumpy old balloon-maker (grumpy because he has lost his beloved, adventure-loving wife) using his skills to take his house flying towards a dream destination in South America. It works as a sweet metaphor for the sprit of escape one can summon up in trying circumstances. The old man is trying to get away from aggressive real-estate developers who want to break his house down, and what better way to do it than simply to fly away!

Another thing about Up. I liked it because of its music. It is pleasant, symphonic, and very warmly European. Some kids dread going to the movies because they find the sound unbearably loud. The one I went with usually refuses to enter a movie hall, and if he is forced to, stuffs his ears with cotton. He sat through Up happily.

But I can’t say the same of Kaminey. Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool, based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth, was a subtle masterpiece, but in Kaminey, he attempts something like a Mumbai masala flick. All very fine, but the close-up and wildly swinging camera angles, supposedly inspired by the Hollywood director Tarantino, left me dizzy.

Vishal is a very innovative music composer, and I was excited with the way he handled the score (especially the qawwali) in Maqbool. In Kaminey, his music sounded so painful. Why did I like Up’s soundtrack more than Kaminey’s? Was it bad cinema sound or bad music? Or, to return to an old debate, was it the digital bombardment of synths as against the warmth of natural instruments?