Arrogance of the Don

I was alseep in a hotel room in San Antonio, Texas, and the date was 1st July, 2004. My friend, in an attempt to force me to leave the bed, switched the TV on. And there appeared this braodcast of an interview by the Playboy magazine with the Don.

What the Don said was very interesting. He vehemently declined to accept any of his roles in any of the movies he acted to be a classic act or himself as an artist. He proclaimed that people such as Rembrandt, or Boudelaire are worthy of the title "artist" but NOT someone like Bob Dylan. He said that no movie actor ever deserves to be called an artist. When the interviewer countered by saying that a good movie could really entertain and educate a person, the Godfather responded that even a prostitute does the same, and yet none calls her work a classic act. He agreed that Tennessee Williams's "A Streetcar Called Desire" can be considered a classic, but the movie with the same name made by Kazan does not deserve that title.

He also quoted his acting teacher who said, "Always show less than you have." When asked to name a few important movies of the last decade, he simply said, "I don't know that films are important." He also said that he considered all awards to be ridiculous, and that he did not believe in the Nobel Peace Prize.

Most people saw arrogance in the behavior of the Godfather over the years. They say, he was tough to work with; they say he was moody and arrogant. But what I feel about his behavior and words is something different. I think, what the Godfather really felt all along was simple inadequacy: the inadequacy of a man who always strove for perfection, a man whose aims were lofty, a man who perhaps knew that he could have done an ever better job each time he acted. What I see is his behaviour is more of harsh criticism of his works than arrogance.

But then he was one of the best (if not THE one) in his field, and it seems many knew this about him.

The full text of the Interview is in:
http://www.playboy.com/features/features/marlonbrando/04.html

The Sleeping Princess : Remembering Devdas*

...."And it was at that age, poetry arrived in search of me."

His songs didn't arrive in search of me; but Nepal Radio brought them to me. It was perhaps way back in 1984 or so, when I first heard his name, and the song played was about his request to the Princess to fall into slumber. And since that day, I've been fascinated with his voice. and with passing time it has only continually grown!

He was the original Devdas, in and outside of the reel life, and he led the life of Devdas.....

"... offering in the smoke
his wayward tenderness
in one drink after another,
until he fell in stages
as if the wine itself
had taken him further and further away from us!"

He could no longer sing without getting drunk first, and his end came quite early. There was none to sing lullaby to the Princess ever since!

*Kundan Lal Saigal (death: 18th January, 1947); Acknowledgements: Pablo Neruda.

Sprint of the Fox and Other Stories*

Q. What does a fox whose days are numbered do? A. It runs towards the city.
Q. What does one do to a rabid dog? A. One pumps a bullet into it.

One learns all these things by watching commercial movies churned out by the Indian film industry at Bombay (Mumbai), popularly known as Bollywood. In spite of its wanton plagiarism of Foreign - mainly Hollywood - movies, Bollywood has -over the years- produced very many highly talented and excellent actors. Interestingly, most of these actors acted/act as villain, because perhaps villainry is the only part in bollyowood that needs acting capability, which is in stark contrast to the main character of a movie, known as Hero, the only qualification for which seems to be having big biceps/muscles.

And among the most fearsome of the Bollywood villains, he was the best, the Boss of all Bosses. This great actor had come to be a hero way back in 1954, only to be turned down because of his "ugly" look and "bad" voice. And in that instance, divine justice was done; because then he returned to drama/theatre to work for the next 20 years or so with some of the best and legendary theatre personalities such as Satyadev Dubey. He was brought to parallel cinema by Shyam Benegal, and he acted in a series of art/parralel movies in the seventies. Later he returned to Bollywood to terrify the heroes and the audiences alike by his screen presence and his booming voice. He gave soul to villainry in Bollywood, and watching Hindi movies was never before so much fun.Of course, he had to act in all those absurd movies, and play all those exaggerated and totally unrealistic roles, and yet he somehow made them look credible. And that's where his greatness as an actor lies.

But that does not mean that he only knew how to act a villain. Contracy to that, he also did equal justice to roles in which he played normal human beings.

And then the end came.

*in Memory of Amrish Puri (1932-2005)

The Ten Commandments: The Mafia Version

1) Thou shalt not worship anyone but thy Capo.
2) Thou shalt not take thy Capo's name is vain.
3) Thou shalt not whack a made man.
4) Thou shalt not bring heat unto thy men.
5) Thou shalt not covet thy wiseguy's wife.
6) Thou shalt not abort a score.
7) Thou shalt not rat.
8) Thou shalt not steal from a made man.
9) Thou shalt carry and conceal thy gun all the time.
10) Thou shalt bid adieu to thy family when thee is sent; this could be thy last day on earth.