Released in 1996 Genre- Wrongful, Dark Humor 10/10 Main Cast: Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare and Harve Presnell Screenplay: Coen Brothers (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen) Direction- Coen Brothers
Logo of Fargo (1996), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
BRIEF INTRODUCTION The story revolves around several events primarily driven by greed, causing a lot of chaos along the way. Although the lighting is not so dark, the humor and the events are, which makes it a noir film story-wise. The film was nominated for numerous awards and won a number of them, including two Oscars and a BAFTA.
Frances McDormand From Fargo to Ebbing…(2017) and Nomadland (2020), the energy and passion remain constant in her. She is also one of the rare actors to win The Triple Crown of Acting.
Steve Buscemi Be it a film directed by the Coen brothers, an interesting character in The Sopranos, or a film like Spy Kids, he never fails to impress the audience.
P.S. Fargo (1996) is the original film on which the TV series of the same name is based.
Released in 1953 Genre- Drama 10/10 Main Cast: Balraj Sahni, Nirupa Roy, Nana Palshikar Story: Salil Chowdhury, Screenplay: Hrishikesh Mukherjee Music- Salil Chowdhury Direction- Bimal Roy
a scene from Do Bigha Zamin (1953) Bimal Roy Productions, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
BRIEF INTRODUCTION A story about a farmer, his family, and the struggle to save their “Do Bigha Zamin”. One of the most poignant films belonging to the Golden Age of Indian Cinema, a gem by Bimalda. Not only received appreciation and several prestigious awards in India but also the first film from our country to win an International prize, in the Cannes Film Festival (1954).
STORY & THEME The portrayal of stark reality in the film led to the beginning of a new kind of cinema in the Hindi Film Industry, cinema that dealt with more realistic themes.
MUSIC & STORY (Background) Salil Chowdhury gave life to the music of the film. Not only the music but also the story was written by him only, which he also talked about, in one of his old interviews. “Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke” from the film, became a very memorable song, I still remember listening to it on a loop.
Acting Balraj Sahni’s finest performance to date. Nirupa Roy and all the cast members also acted flawlessly. Balraj Sahni and Nirupa Roy’s equation was very natural in the film (can be observed in all the films, they acted together). The last scene of the film is so moving that it makes you feel the exact emotions experienced by the characters.
My journey with the film While watching Vittorio De Sica’s magnum opus Bicycle Thieves, 1948 (belonging to the Italian neorealism movement) during the Film Appreciation course (F.T.I.I. Pune), I don’t know, for what reasons, visuals of Do Bigha Zamin (which I had seen back in 2017) started flashing across my mind. So, to end my curiosity, during the discussion of Bicycle Thieves, I asked my course director, Aruna ma’am, if by any chance, Do Bigha Zamin has anything to do with Bicycle Thieves, then ma’am told me that it was inspired by Sica’s film. And it was only after Bimalda saw Sica’s film, decided to make Do Bigha Zamin. Not just, Do Bigha Zamin, but more or less the majority of the movies made (all over the world) at that time were inspired by Bicycle Thieves.
Relation with Bicycle Thieves The story of Do Bigha Zamin has no connection with Bicycle Thieves but the way it was shot, the use of locations (design), the pathos in the story, and sometimes, somewhere in the background elements, you can clearly observe the inspiration.
P.S. It was my maternal grandmother’s favorite film and this was the initial reason for me to watch the film.
Not just Hrishida, but it was also my first proper introduction to mainstream cinema and the one and only Mr. Khanna, Mr. Rajesh Khanna. When I asked my mother about both of them, she asked me to watch Hrishida’s magnum opus and Rajesh Khanna’s finest to date “Anand (1971)”. And this film… This film changed my definition of mainstream completely, the storyline, memorable dialogues & songs, and powerful performances by the entire cast, especially Rajesh Khanna. After watching Anand, it became extremely important for me to watch every film made by Hrishida, be it Satyakam (1968) (one of the finest but quite underrated) or Bawarchi (1972), or Abhimaan (1973) or Naukri (1978). Watching Anand somewhere also made me a huge fan of Kaka. I saw all the important films he worked in, starting right from Anand (1971), Khamoshi (1970), Aradhana (1969), Safar (1970), Aakhri Khat (1966), Bawarchi (1972), Amar Prem (1972), Namak Haraam (1973), Avishkaar (1974) (one of his most distinct works), Naukri (1978) and some selected films from the 80s. His choice of projects was very interesting (being a major box office actor), especially between 1966-1978. I think he was one of those actors who always kept a balance between popular mainstream and inventive films. In 1974, with highly anticipated releases like Roti and Prem Nagar, he also had releases like impressively artistic Avishkaar and Aap Ki Kasam somewhere belonging to the middle-of-the-road genre. This tells a lot about his selection of films and it was only he who could manage to play a character like Amar flawlessly in Avishkaar, making the film rich artistically and at the same time getting it successful at the box office too.
Released in 1959 Genre- Thriller 10/10 Main Cast: Cary Grant, James Mason, Eva Marie Saint Screenplay: Ernest Lehman Direction- Alfred Hitchcock Editing- George Tomasini
Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest (1959) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
BRIEF INTRODUCTION A thrilling story of mistaken identity, interestingly different from the regular ones. A highly acclaimed work from Hitchcock followed by his other important film, which was released just the next year, in 1960.
P.S. North by Northwest became a landmark film in the mistaken identity genre and served as an inspiration for popular thriller films in the future.
Released in 1964 Genre- Drama, History 10/10 Main Cast: Richard Burton, Peter O’ Toole Screenplay: Edward Anhalt Direction- Peter Glenville Editing- Anne V. Coates
Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton in Becket (1964) Paramount Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
BRIEF INTRODUCTION Based on a play by Jean Anouilh, a story about divine friendship, which eventually turns into animosity after a conflict of thoughts and interests. TRUE BRILLIANCE One of the most amazing and visually engaging films that I have seen so far. For the first time, two immensely talented and important Shakespearean actors together, Burton and O’Toole, both from RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), London. Story-wise, performance-wise, design-wise, and direction-wise, in every aspect, the film managed to amaze me. It was nominated for 12 Academy Awards (37th Oscars, 1965), and won in the category of the Best Screenplay. It was also nominated for several categories in BAFTAs (1965) and The Golden Globe awards (1965) and won a number of them. P.S. This film inspired a 70s Indian classic too, which also starred two of the biggest actors and stars of Indian Cinema.
About the author
Naman Khare
Hi, this is Naman Khare, an engineer by education but a film enthusiast at heart. This blog is about my experiences and journey with cinema.
My journey with cinema started back in 2016. After completing my 12th standard, I started preparing for medicine away from my hometown. I was not very happy with what I was doing so I returned to my hometown but with a pang of huge guilt as if I failed or something. And other aspects of my life were also not going very well back then, quite a low phase. One day, while passing through the living room, I saw a glimpse of a film (on the TV) that was very different from the usual ones. Very curiously, I asked my mother, “what film is that”, she replied, “that’s a good film, a realistic and artistic one, none of your business, you will not get it” she said laughingly. But this statement left me even more curious, so, in the evening, I started watching the film on the TV when it was supposed to be telecasted. The film was Ardh Satya, originally released in 1983, directed by one of the pioneers of Realistic Indian Cinema Mr. Govind Nihalani. If I were to describe my journey with Ardh Satya, I can just say that I was a different person, at the beginning of the film and became an entirely different person when the film ended. It changed something in me, my mind, and my thoughts, it impacted me deeply. Ardh Satya was just the beginning, in a matter of a week, I almost completed watching and reading about all prominent films made by the extraordinaire of the New Wave Cinema. This whole process of watching films, and reading about them introduced me to the geniuses like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Tapan Sinha, Basu Bhattacharya, and many more. I think a person can learn filmmaking more by just watching Satyajit RAY’s films than by having a formal education about the whole process. A time came when I considered watching these films only or films made by directors like them only. But this belief changed when one day, very surprisingly, almost impossibly I was introduced to Hrishikesh Mukherjee, through one of the finest classics- “Namak Haraam (1973)”.
