Being Cyrus – A Review

Directed by the debutant director Homi Adajania, the story’s written by Kersi Khambatta. This is Saif Ali Khan's first English feature film. The movie seems to be garnering a lot of attention and some very gushing reviews, which, to my mind, demonstrate the fickle nature of the viewer & the reviewer.

Being a catostomidae for creative movies that have a touch of finesse, I jumped at the first opportunity to see this film. Have never been more wrong in my choice & judgment.

This is a "select" film for a "select" crowd. It’s a starkly natural film with extreme close-ups of the pigsty existence of the Sethna family. We have sadly started relating to films synonymous to bare reality as being arty & classy. Being Cyrus is a dark comedy based on the Parsi community in general.

The story revolves round the Sethnas. I admit there are some brilliant performances by Naseeruddin Shah (Dinshaw Sethna), Boman Irani (Farokh Sethna), Dimple Kapadia (Katy Sethna) & Honey Chayya (Fardounjee Sethna). Despite boasting such talents, the development of the storyline is sluggish. Most of the viewers cling on hoping that the next scene would perhaps bring them the much needed redemption from stagnating boredom. But nay…no such luck here!

Being Cyrus has been hyped as a movie at par with others like Iqbal and Mr & Mrs, which were, creatively made films with tight controlled performances and an effortless flow to the story line. Being Cyrus on the other hand has abrupt picturization of certain information that Adjania tries to feed the audience in punctuated but abrupt rushes that leaves one baffled. This movie’s supposedly a thriller that fails to thrill.

Copyright © BuntysBanter 2006

My new Brahmin husband….by default!

The alarm rings cantankerously as I arouse myself sleepily from the clutches of Hypnos (greek god of sleep) & trudge to the bathroom. My sister-in-law (brother’s wife), Urvee & me have resolved to cleanse ourselves by playing the docile, wide-eyed devotion dripping bahu / beti.

With an approved look from my proud parents, we head to hobnob with the reverential gods & goddesses of Mumbai that fateful Sunday.

The deity at Siddhivinayak temple blesses us with a tolerant aplomb as we pour our outrageous desires into the ears of lord Ganesh’s wahan, his mouse (this is a hindu ritual followed in Maharashtra wherein the message to Ganeshji is sent via the Undir which gets delivered with “top priority” status assigned to it).

Once the job well done, we prance off to Mahalakshmi Temple which is the abode of the Goddess of Molah, who sitting smug on a lotus rules the world. The goddess’s kind bovine eyes smiles at us knowingly as we are immersed in serious prayer to please her.

Our rituals soberly finished, we head to an archaic pundit sitting outside the temple who Urvee informs would paste a kumkum tilak on our foreheads & bless us in exchange for some spare coins.

As we bow in profound veneration & await our brow’s to be adorned with the pious bottu, the pundit applies a liberal helping of kumkumam on our foreheads as well as mang (the hair parting above the forehead) & pats my head in couplet to deliver the blessings straight from the goddess Mahalakshmi.

I stare dumbfounded at Urvee who’s mang has been decorated similarly by the said pundit & ditto gets two pats (her share of blessings) from the goddess.

I snarl at Urvee pointing out the insipid act by this callous messenger of god who with one stroke of his thumb changed our fates & now, both of us are wedded to him. Dear God! How stupid! She scolds. I’m adamant.

We start discussing our new found status after the “mang bharai” ceremony. If one goes by the hindu scriptures, the status & caste of the husband is involuntarily transferred to the wife. So now both our varnas have changed. We are “BRAHMINS” from now on. The topnotch position in the hindu ladder & revered by the lesser lot. Wow! That feels kinda important, I tell myself as I bask in the new found consciousness of high authority.

But one look at the shriveled Brahmin sends shudders of repulsion down our already dismembered spines. We giggle as we discuss the carnal capacities of this over ripe individual who has long forgotten our presence & is busy blessing other unsuspecting sirens.

Another important point of discussion is the change in relationship between Urvee & me. We are soutans now & will have to fight for the attention of our withered husband.

As our exposition probes deeper with intricate details, we realize that our new swamy should support our Grihasta Jivan. I consult my minds eye which helps me fast forward to the scene wherein my emaciated husband is handing over some spare change & a handful of raw rice as the bhiksha collection for the day. I reason. Is this enough for Urvee & me? Nah! So what’s the next option?

Re-wind, fast forward to another scenario wherein I’m supporting my swamy. I touch my master’s feet as I come in after a long days work. He blesses me in a grave undertone & commands me to take a bath & hurry to join him in his sandhya puja & arti. Heck..noooo…my food craving stomach grumbles as I dutifully head for the snanagar.

Stop…rewind…pause…breathless..hopeless...sigh… trepidation… anxious fear…claustrophobic!

Urvee : Buntydi…this is harrowing. Can’t we do something about it?
Me : Err…well…we can actually.
Urvee :Well then what are you waiting for? Can’t you see, I’m truly distressed?
Me : Ok…lets not spill the beans about our supposed vivah to anyone. It can be like
our very own secret that cannot be broken in a thousand years.
Urvee : I cross my heart & vow “thou shall not mention this to anyone. Not even your
Bhaiya”.

Copyright © BuntysBanter 2006

Brokeback Mountain – A Review

Brokeback Mountain is a film about love that two cowboys stumble onto unknowingly, love suppressed, love withheld sorrowfully in the heart.

Director Ang Lee has dared to explore a dormant subject like homosexuality in a very sensitive overtone. This is not a film about unbridled stud sex. Based on a short story by Annie Proulx, it captures the emotional upheavals between two individuals in love in a rather sublime manner. The romance between the main characters expanse 20 yrs.

The two young cowboys, Ennis Del Marby (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), meet by accident in the summer of 1963 at Brokeback Mountain in the Wyoming High country to work for a rancher Joe Aguirre as sheepherders.

The lone chill that envelopes the camp drives the two to huddle up together in the tiny tent one night. This close proximity ignites into a sudden spark that later flares into an undying flame.

The first sexual grappling in the cramped tent has been treated rather discreetly. The next morning, both struggle to come to terms with the earlier nights happenings. Ennis who’s all bottled up and swallows his syllables as he speaks to Jack says “He’s no queer”. Jack who’s the talkative one between them is dealing with his own demons.

Still they do it again & again in the daylight as well as at night. Their pent-up passion explodes in a roughhouse savage intensity that’s indistinguishable from fighting.

Lee’s Freudianism captures the unconscious romantic bond between the two lovers with panache. This film showcases the pure male bonding that breathes in the shadows away from prying eyes.

Ennis was brought up by his siblings when his parents died & Jack who’s more evolved & self-aware was brought up in the rodeo circuit since his dad was a bullfighter.

The young lovers romance is clipped when an errant blizzard cuts short their summer employment. Ennis & Jack go their separate ways. Ennis’s farewell is a simple unemotional “see you around”..but both are torn up. Ennis who’s not easily stirred breaks down in frustration as Jack drives away.

Ennis marries his girlfriend Alma (Michelle Williams) & has two daughters with her. Jack meets & marries Laureen (Anne Hathway) a Texan rodeo queen with whom he has a son. He joins Laureen’s father’s farm equipment business.

Four years pass before Jack who lives in Texas sends a postcard to Ennis who’s settled in Wyoming saying he will be in the area & would like to visit.

The moment they set eyes on each other, the latent passion erupts in an unconstrained clinch. Alma stumbles upon their rather private moment unnoticed & is shocked at the revelation. As the re-united lovers head to a motel, Alma’s frozen with misery & doesn’t know how to handle the bearings.

So begins a sporadic & tormented affair in which the two meet once or twice a year feigning fishing trips where no fish are caught. Jack urges that they forsake their marriages & set up ranch together. But Ennis is haunted by a childhood memory of his father taking him to see the mutilated body of a rancher who was tortured to death by the locals for soliciting relations with another man.

Ennis is immobilized with fear & shame & cannot fathom living together openly. This disappoints Jack immensely who feels emotionally drained & claustrophobic being in a marriage that’s a facade.

Meanwhile Enni’s marriage crumbles as Alma’s choked pain finds an outlet with a colleague. Jack’s happy with Enni’s divorce but thwarted when Ennis still fights the idea of camping in together.

To overcome the emptiness he feels within, he has clandestine encounters with other men. In one of rendezvous in the hills with Ennis, Jack manifests the suffocation he feels to Ennis & confesses being with others to calm his tormented soul. Ennis is lewd with jealous rage as he threatens to kill Jack if he ever hears of another encounter…EVER. The sheer raw emotions running wild is very touching & real.

The relationship matures into a sexless satisfaction of love that both experience as they embrace in the quite, pristine mountains (shot in Alberta, in the Canadian Rockies) & fluctuates between love, caring, bonding & respect for one another. Both live for that one tender moment snatched from the loneliness in their hearts that illuminates their very existence.

This film is recommended to those who are open to understanding the complexities of emotions & respect them for what they are.

Copyright © BuntysBanter 2006