Awakenings

“Awakening is not a thing. It is not a goal, not a concept. It is not something to be attained. It is a metamorphosis. If the caterpillar thinks about the butterfly it is to become, saying ‘And then I shall have wings and antennae,’ there will never be a butterfly. The caterpillar must accept its own disappearance in its transformation. When the marvelous butterfly takes wing, nothing of the caterpillar remains.” 

                                                                                                                     - Alejandro Jodorowsky

Just watched Awakenings, based on a book by Oliver Sacks. Brain has always been a little known and hence the most  fascinating part of human body; and hence this journey into an unexplored territory becomes a captivating experience thanks to the efficient direction by Penny Marshall and the brilliant performances by Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. 

This film reminded me of Big by same director. A 12 year boy who wakes up to realize that  he is a 30 year old man. The sudden change in the age surely stuns him; but at least the world around him hasn't changed. As a result somehow, he manages to survive and in fact becomes successful due to his innocence and curiosity which make him stand out from the maddening competitive crowd. 

However, on the canvas of life, the picture is not always rosy. We are shocked by the helplessness of the human race, even though we have progressed a lot. Robin Williams succeeds in transmitting the anxiety and urge of Dr. Sayer (specially when he says, "I don't know what the drug will do, I can't think of what it will do, but I just hope that it will work as a cure") to the audience. We sympathize with the patients and Dr. Sayer's efforts at awakening them. We rejoice to see them getting back from wherever they have been, to today's world. But at the same time the loss of so many years in life is too much to deal with. The person saying, "I know it is not 1926, but I just want it to be, because I don't have an experience of being older than 22" touches our hearts. The effect of all these on the relatives of the patients is equally noticeable. Their lives are interlaced with feeding and serving these catatonic patients. For some of them, this is the sole purpose of the life. So, they fail to come to terms with this sudden awakening. And then comes the climax... Leonard (Robert De Niro), who is at first happy to be back starts a new journey. He has a fighting spirit and develops a good companionship with Dr. Sayer. He wants Dr. Sayer to experiment on him, so that he can be of some use even through his sufferings.

In the end, it is not just the Awakening for patients. It is for the entire community. We realize the importance of simple things in life such as music, human touch and most of all, the relationships. To the staff at hospital, these catatonic patients are no longer like plants, simply to be fed and watered. All the staff (lead by Eleanor Costello (Julie Kavner)) start sharing the enthusiasm of Dr. Sayer and come up with ingenious tricks. Same effect trickles down to the audience. We start realizing the importance of small things in life and feel like stopping our complaints, especially when told by the endearing Leonard through his painful experience. And then, one starts believing that even a small experience can lead to an awakening which is an important part of life, because, as Gail Sheehy rightly said,

If every day is an awakening, you will never grow old. You will just keep growing.        

Enthralling Revivifications...

Recently watched two fascinating movies, both underscoring the fact that,

"Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom.”

La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful)

"This is a simple story, but not an easy to tell. Like a fable, there is sorrow… and, like a fable, it is full of wonder and happiness..."

With these words, starts our journey into a simple life of a simple person. A romantic waiter Guido trying to impress a  school-teacher Dora with his sense of humour and presence of mind. He manages to snatch her away from her fiancé while serving at their engagement ceremony. Later on he opens his dream bookstore. They have a beautiful son Giosué and it seems to be a perfect life until their little fairy world is shattered by the World War II. Then starts a struggle for survival... the story of life and death, where even a single unintended word or action may result in loss of your life. The courage, optimism and presence of mind of Guido (played by Roberto Benigni (who is director and one of the writers as well) and the innocence and faith of his equally witty son Giosué (played by Giorgio Cantarini) leave us spellbound throughout this second half of the movie.

The Shawshank Redemption

Topping the IMDB list for a long is a story of a successful banker who ends up in jail being charged with the murder of his wife. It's a story of a bonding between this snobby looking professional Andy (played by Tim Robbins) and an unsophisticated prison-mate Red (played by Morgan Freeman). How Andy proves that "Hope is a good thing" and "Salvation lies within" is really worth watching and worth listening to through Red's distinctive voice. The director Frank Darabolt scores by his attention to details.

The strategic planning by Andy is in contrast to the impulsive actions of Guido (in La vita è bella), but both live up to their images of a trained professional and a simple small-town waiter turned bookseller respectively. It is said that no words can convey the sweetness of sugar. The same holds true with these movies. You have to really experience them, to get a hang of it.

PS: Special thanks to Richa and Deep for recommending these masterpieces.

Attention Please

( Japanese serial " アテンションプリーズ ")

This cute little story of transformation of a tomboyish, overconfident, careless rock singer to a caring, mature flight professional is worth watching. The story is that of Misaki Youko (played by Ueto Aya), a girl who grew up with 4 brothers and a father. Naturally, she went on to become a tomboyish teenager, with no female friends. Being a cabin attendant is the most unsuitable job for her. But, just because a friend she has a crush on, says that he would like to see her in uniform, she applies for the post. During the interview, she manages to conceal her rock-star like appearance by borrowing a costume from the fellow interviewee and surprisingly, gets selected.
Here onwards starts the real drama - her continuous struggle to fit her unrefined self into the sophisticated surroundings; all this while dealing with a strict trainer Mikami Tamaki (Played by Maya Miki), not-so-supportive classmates and seniors. Everything she does is wrong, right from the speed of bowing to the tone of her speech. This obviously leads to frustration fueled further by her crush falling in love with some other girl. She almost gives up the wish to become a cabin attendant, now that the main motive is lost, but the trainer challenges her. Too proud to accept her failure, Misaki starts training again, just to defeat the trainer, though she is no more interested in the job. Her instinctive behaviour leads to some incidences which make her infamous. People start commenting that she is the one who is spoiling the whole class and how could someone like her get selected in the first place. But then, a moment comes. Just for fun, she wears a senior's uniform and then realizes the responsibility that comes with it. The immense satisfaction derived from helping an utterly confused Chinese traveller by communicating through sign/body language (due to language barrier), makes her start loving this job. In addition to this are the encouraging words from a newly acquired engineer friend, Nakahara Shouta (played by Nishikyodo Ryo).

Finally, as the exam nears, Misaki works really hard and performs pretty well. During the practicals, she maintains her smiling face though the examiner tries to pester her by her actions. Everyone agrees that she should pass, but the trainer declines. This is the most shocking incident for Misaki as this was the first time that she had done something so seriously and had still been a failure. This leads to the increase in her hatred for the trainer. But when finally, she realizes that the trainer knows her "inner beauty", more than anyone else and wanted her to become perfect, she softens, works hard again and finally passes the second test. During OJT (On the Job Training) again she does some classic mistakes, but when scolded by the senior Asou Kaoru (played by Fueki Yuko) and Captain Sakurada (played by Kohinata Fumiyo), tries correcting herself. In fact, later she manages to handle a critical situation, by her keen sense of observation and presence of mind. In her last OJT flight, she handles an unconscious passenger courageously despite being frightened in her mind.

On the final day of her training, both Misaki and the trainer are overwhelmed when Misaki admits that though she hated the trainer, it's because of her that she could attain this height. Also, the training section chief Dazai (played by Inoue Jun) admits that he pleaded with the interviewers for selecting Misaki, as he thought she can become a cabin attendant with a new charm.

"Never give up" attitude of Misaki, patience and strictness of Mikami trainer, section chief Dazai's faith in Misaki and the trainer, Captain Sakurada's well thought advices to Mikami trainer, Nakahara's never ending support to Misaki.... all these help Misaki grow into a professional cabin attendant who adds a special personal touch to the service she offers. We are simply surprised to see this transformation and how a seemingly unimportant job can be challenging as well as critical.

What if,

1. Dazai hadn't thought of selecting someone who is out of the box

2. Misaki had given up at one of the many frustrating moments

3. Mikami trainer had thought even once that Misaki is useless and gave up working on her (She had to put up with the comments from her colleague, students on why Misaki is not being kicked out by her and at the same time she had to listen to the hateful remarks from the hurt Misaki)

4. Sakurada captain hadn't assured Mikami trainer that she is doing her best.

Culmination of the efforts of so many people was a "a great new hire with special charm".

All these people lead by endearing Misaki and patient Mikami tell us, to believe in ourselves and to learn from those around us because, no job is easy and no individual is useless.....

The Last Lecture

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand”.

 – Randy Pausch 

We cannot decide the length of our life, but surely, the height that we attain. This is exactly what Randy Pausch does and inspires us to do. For unacquainted, Randy Pausch was a professor in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon. Born in a typical middle class family, this person went on to create an Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon, and later on became well-known for his legendary last lecture, which is available for future generations in the form of a video and a book.

Born with the winning ticket, as far as parents were concerned, he was lucky enough to live out his childhood dreams. Surely, he would love to cherish the dreams of his children and empower them to realize them, but for a terminal pancreatic cancer, which attacked him almost in the middle of his life. Then started the earnest attempts of a father, to give his children the fullest. The Last Lecture is also a part of this endeavor.

Most of the book is autobiographical, involving the incidents from his childhood to this last lecture, peppered with words of wisdom. But what I loved most is, this is not a traditional self-help stuff. This is a book which gives you insight into your life. Here is somebody with flesh and blood, giving down-to-earth tips to enrich your lives, though not in the materialistic sense. This journey of an inconsiderate but a passionate kid keeps us hooked till end. It’s just like one of us, narrating his experiences of fulfilling the dreams, some of which, even we have relished. And this journey is made more meaningful by the people who come across and leave their imprint.

From seemingly petty thing like answering “Park is open until 8 pm” to a question “When does the park close?”, Randy succeeds in changing our attitude. We are elated at the successes that he gets in achieving his dreams. Especially, his encounters with Disney World at various stages of his life are worth reading. The next in line is his gratitude towards the folks who shaped his life through their good deeds. And not to forget, that all this is written, when the death is waiting for you at the next turn.

He just sets an example, of how to live your life fully and enjoy every moment of whatever short span you are left with without whining about the fate. Then only you will be the richest one to die, as satisfaction is the wealth that you have with you on the deathbed.

So, get set go, on the life’s race, which is full of hurdles, waiting to be conquered, because, once again in Randy’s words, “Brick walls are there for a reason. ”

गंधर्वयुग

काल बऱ्याच दिवसांनंतर चित्रपटगृहात जाऊन चित्रपट पाहण्याचा योग आला. अर्थातच it was worth it…. आमच्या पिढीला गन्धर्वयुगाच्या सुवर्णकाळाची सफर घडवून आणण्याचा हा प्रयत्न निश्चितच स्तुत्य आहे ….

सकाळ मधल्या सुबोध भावेंच्या लेखनातून चित्रपट बघायची उत्सुकता निर्माण झाली होतीच; पण ती उत्सुकता शमवतानाच बालगन्धर्वांविषयी अधिक माहिती घ्यायलाही उद्युक्त करण्याचं काम या चित्रपटानं केलंय . एखाद्या विषयाचा ध्यास घेऊन त्याच्या पूर्ततेसाठी झटलं की कसा उत्तम कलाविष्कार साकार होतो , याचं उदाहरण म्हणून या कलाकृतीकडं पाहता येईल …

सुबोध भावेंचा राजस बालगंधर्व मनात घर करतोच , पण त्याचबरोबर “मामा , गंधर्व म्हणजे काय रे ?”, असं निरागसपणे विचारणारा अथर्व कर्वेही आपल्या छोट्याश्या भूमिकेत ठसा उमटवून जातो . बालगंधर्वांची रसिकता, विनम्रता , कर्तव्यनिष्ठा, देशभक्ती , उत्कृष्टतेचा ध्यास , अनेकानेक आघात पचवण्याचं धैर्य , रसिकांवरची श्रद्धा , तत्त्वनिष्ठा आणि “इदं न मम ” अशी निरासक्त वृत्ती , अशा बहुविध पैलूंचं इतक्या अल्प कालावधीत प्रत्ययकारी दर्शन घडवण्याचं शिवधनुष्य नितीन देसाईंच्या नेतृत्त्वाखाली या साऱ्या मंडळींनी अतिशय उत्तमरीत्या पेललंय . पण त्याचबरोबर त्यांच्या अव्यवहारीपणा सारख्या काही उण्या बाजूही अगदी सहजगत्या समोर आणल्यायेत . आणि हे सगळं केलंय ते कुठंही “judgmental ” न होता … कारण , चित्रपटात म्हटल्याप्रमाणं गंधर्वांच्या आयुष्याला लौकिक बंधनांमध्ये अडकवण्याचा प्रयत्न करणंही निष्फळ आहे …. . शिवाय , सहकाऱ्यांचं प्रेम आणि कळकळ, रसिकांचं प्रेम आणि त्यातूनच उमटणारी दानशूरता , सहचारिणीची सोशिकता या गोष्टी झाकोळल्या जाणार नाहीत याचीही पुरेपूर दक्षता दिग्दर्शकानं घेतलीये . 

मुलीच्या मृत्यूनंतर डोळ्यात आलेलं पाणी क्षणार्धात टिपून भूमिका रंगवणारे बालगंधर्व आपल्या डोळ्यात अश्रू उभे करतात , तर बोलपटाच्या चित्रीकरणाच्या वेळी होणारी एका सच्च्या रंगकर्मीची घुसमट आपल्यालाही अस्वस्थ करून सोडते . आणि हे सगळं पाहिलं की पटतं – “खरंच, आयुष्य हे तर एक नाटकच. त्याचे प्रवेश “त्यानं” आधीच लिहून ठेवलेत . फक्त आपल्या वाटेला आलेली भूमिका उत्तमरीत्या पार पाडणं हेच आपलं कर्तव्य”.

PS: १. आनंद भाटेंचा देखील विशेषत्त्वाने उल्लेख करायला हवा.
      २. आता कुठूनतरी “धर्मात्मा” मिळवायला हवा ….