I ve been an immense movie lover since god knows how long and then thr were those characters,those protagonists that ve stayed on my mind forever....here's bringing some of the classic well sketched,brilliantly enacted roles from world cinema....
KARUNA BANERJEE (Sarbajaya) Pather panchali
Eyes that speaks volume,a housewife dealing with the constant worries of feeding her children,of her husband's return from the city,of her fear of living in a dilapidated house...she scrimps and saves and struggles to bring up her children Apu & Durga while keeping eye on the troublesome,senile aunt...she's irritable,worn down by work & injured pride..Undoubtedly,a standout performance in the history of indian cinema..
APARNA SEN (Sarojini Gupta) Unishe April
'Draupadi ke dekhle shob purush maanush e henglaami korto,sheta oshobbhota noy?' ..Now who could say a dialogue like this with as much gutso,as much flamboyance as Aparna Sen's! Everytime i watch the film and i watch her stature,her enigma and her persona,often turning herself witty instead of caricaturing it,..it amazes me,surprises me,compels me to watch the film over and over again,only because of her..Hats off to Rituparno Ghosh for perfectly blending into her the emotions of a mother as well as the personality of a dancer,someone who's dedication to her art is evident in every frame..
JULIA ROBERTS (Erin) Erin Brokovich
INGRID BERGMAN/LIV ULLMAN (Charlotte/Eva) Autumn Sonata
This one turns out to be one of my favourite because of the two superbly talented actresses portraying an emotionally and physically distant mother and daughter in this stunningly accomplished chamber drama from Ingmer Bergman,specially from Ingrid Bergman portraying a self involved woman with great musical talent hopping from cheeriness to tears to agony and to final escape..Her performance,when put in perspective (she was dealing with breast cancer throughout the shooting) is simply amazing!!
MERYL STREEP (Miranda Priestly) Devil Wears Prada
There are stars and then,there are The Stars! but no one can ever ever match up to the histrionics of Meryl Streep..She's the devil,She's the dragon lady,She's thy arrogance!,She's in vogue and She's 'The Boss from hell' in this witty,slick,glossy,'in vogue',fun film by David Frankel...Her poise,her stature,the way she spoke and then 'the looks that could kill'...impeccable !! Streep alone makes the film a million time watch for me....THATS ALL ;) !!
VIVIEN LEIGH (Scarlett) Gone With the Wind
Its still touted as one of the epic films in the history of world cinema based on an epic novel..following the love affair between a manipulative woman and a roguish man during the civil war and reconstruction..and the film belongs to Vivien,hands down! She plays a scheming,selfish,spoilt rich woman who does everything to get what she wants including marrying someone for money as well as her own benefit...She is undoubtedly the best thing in the movie...to make u fall in love with a character like her is a tough job to do and she did that so effortlessly.One of the boldest performances i ve come across onscreen!
SUSAN SARANDON/JULIA ROBERTS (Jackie/Isabel) Stepmom
It might not be an out and out favourite for many of the arty kinda movie buffers but these two still remains my favourite, mostly because of their electrifying camaraderie onscreen so much so that lead actor Ed Harris gets completely sidelined..
SUCHITRA SEN (Archana) Saat Paake Baadha
Of all her films,this one remains one of my personal favourite.She sashyed into the mould of Archana completely.You could relate to her helplessness,the complexities of her situation,being torn between her over bearing mother and her egoistic husband, completely overshadowing Soumitra Chatterjee with her mesmerising performance fetching her the Best Actress award at the Moscow Film Festival
SHABANA AZMI (Rukmini bai) Mandi
For me this one's Shyam Benegal's best work..based on a short urdu story 'Anandi' by Ghulam Abbas,its a 'satirical comedy' set up in a brothel inhabited by a bunch of prostitutes led by the madame Rukmini bai (Shabana Azmi).Azmi plays the domineering,crude,selfish and at the same time caring madame of the house,unrestrained and subtle at the same time..For this role,she had put on weight,learnt the kolhapuri accent and visited one of the famous 'kothas' of hyderabad to get into the skin of her character..Her loud tone,unrefined mannerisms,the way she wears & reveals her sari,the way she walks...are fantastically done.She's screaming at one point while being funny or emotionally sentimental in another,switching moods from angry to happy to funny to caring...What a screen presence! Phenomenol!
Eyes that speaks volume,a housewife dealing with the constant worries of feeding her children,of her husband's return from the city,of her fear of living in a dilapidated house...she scrimps and saves and struggles to bring up her children Apu & Durga while keeping eye on the troublesome,senile aunt...she's irritable,worn down by work & injured pride..Undoubtedly,a standout performance in the history of indian cinema..
'Draupadi ke dekhle shob purush maanush e henglaami korto,sheta oshobbhota noy?' ..Now who could say a dialogue like this with as much gutso,as much flamboyance as Aparna Sen's! Everytime i watch the film and i watch her stature,her enigma and her persona,often turning herself witty instead of caricaturing it,..it amazes me,surprises me,compels me to watch the film over and over again,only because of her..Hats off to Rituparno Ghosh for perfectly blending into her the emotions of a mother as well as the personality of a dancer,someone who's dedication to her art is evident in every frame..
MERYL STREEP (Sophie) Sophie's Choice
Meryl streep surprises me everytime i watch a flick of hers and this one's truely one of her best written roles..This was a film which made her go thru several nuances portraying the various shades of her character through different time periods,from a young polish girl,pathetic concentration camp prisoner,mortally ill immigrant to a healthy & seemingly glamorous woman at the end,cruising thru different segments requiring her to speak in Polish,German and broken english,not even going out of sync for once, making it an overwhelming experience casting a powerful,uninterrupted spell with this Oscar winning performance!!
SHABANA AZMI (Pooja) Arth
Directed by Mahesh Bhatt,Arth was about a woman's search for her identity..Shabana Azmi bringing into life the helplessness,pain,solitude of a woman cheated by her husband..Being an orphan she knows she has no where else to go,but she dares to move out of her husband's house,taking accomodation in a ladies' hostel,surviving thru the clutches of some goons,finding for a job,getting drunk at a party and lurching at the 'other woman',Shabana enacts the role with full sincerity that too at the inital phase of her career!..Watch with breathless abandon the emotions which fleet across her face!
She's sassy,she's fun,she's cool,ve no control over her language,a single mom raising her kids,unemployed and single handedly bringing down a California power company accused of polluting a city's water supply...Based on a real life story,Roberts plays the role to the hilt! I guess one more reason why her performance stands out in the film is because she carried a serious role with much more lesser weight without any excess baggage and with a whiff of fresh air!
UTTAM KUMAR (Arindam Mukherji) Nayok
Uttam kr. did only two films with Ray (the other one being Chiriyakhana),and both of them turned out to be his career's bests..Nayak is a one day journey into the life & mind of a Superstar,coincidently matching up to the charisma of maha nayok Uttam kr..Ray had himself said in an interview that he could not think of any other actor for this part..An actor's life being always out in the public view,his mistakes,his choices,his compromises,his principles,the thin line between right and wrong has been beautifuly brought out by the bravura performance by Uttam kr. ...
CHUNIBALA DEVI (Indir Thakuron) Pather Panchali
The 80 yr old theatre actress played the role of the old senile aunt in this epic movie..But everytime i watch the film,it makes me wonder,does Ray really directed her the shots or simply asked her to be herself through each and every frame? right from her excitement on seeing the fruits brought by Durga,to leaving the house with her belongings to the final shot where her head stucks the ground as soon as she dies..the face,the smile and the crankiness leaves on with u forever! Brilliant would be an understatement!
TOM HANKS (title role) Forrest Gump
Just loved Hanks in this one (some percent more than Philadelphiae) with his sweet, innocent, boyish charm (sort of a goofy everyman), playing a character over three decades, of a man with an IQ of only 75 showing any of us can make it if we simply persist!!
The 80 yr old theatre actress played the role of the old senile aunt in this epic movie..But everytime i watch the film,it makes me wonder,does Ray really directed her the shots or simply asked her to be herself through each and every frame? right from her excitement on seeing the fruits brought by Durga,to leaving the house with her belongings to the final shot where her head stucks the ground as soon as she dies..the face,the smile and the crankiness leaves on with u forever! Brilliant would be an understatement!
Just loved Hanks in this one (some percent more than Philadelphiae) with his sweet, innocent, boyish charm (sort of a goofy everyman), playing a character over three decades, of a man with an IQ of only 75 showing any of us can make it if we simply persist!!
This one turns out to be one of my favourite because of the two superbly talented actresses portraying an emotionally and physically distant mother and daughter in this stunningly accomplished chamber drama from Ingmer Bergman,specially from Ingrid Bergman portraying a self involved woman with great musical talent hopping from cheeriness to tears to agony and to final escape..Her performance,when put in perspective (she was dealing with breast cancer throughout the shooting) is simply amazing!!
There are stars and then,there are The Stars! but no one can ever ever match up to the histrionics of Meryl Streep..She's the devil,She's the dragon lady,She's thy arrogance!,She's in vogue and She's 'The Boss from hell' in this witty,slick,glossy,'in vogue',fun film by David Frankel...Her poise,her stature,the way she spoke and then 'the looks that could kill'...impeccable !! Streep alone makes the film a million time watch for me....THATS ALL ;) !!
Its still touted as one of the epic films in the history of world cinema based on an epic novel..following the love affair between a manipulative woman and a roguish man during the civil war and reconstruction..and the film belongs to Vivien,hands down! She plays a scheming,selfish,spoilt rich woman who does everything to get what she wants including marrying someone for money as well as her own benefit...She is undoubtedly the best thing in the movie...to make u fall in love with a character like her is a tough job to do and she did that so effortlessly.One of the boldest performances i ve come across onscreen!
It might not be an out and out favourite for many of the arty kinda movie buffers but these two still remains my favourite, mostly because of their electrifying camaraderie onscreen so much so that lead actor Ed Harris gets completely sidelined..
Of all her films,this one remains one of my personal favourite.She sashyed into the mould of Archana completely.You could relate to her helplessness,the complexities of her situation,being torn between her over bearing mother and her egoistic husband, completely overshadowing Soumitra Chatterjee with her mesmerising performance fetching her the Best Actress award at the Moscow Film Festival
For me this one's Shyam Benegal's best work..based on a short urdu story 'Anandi' by Ghulam Abbas,its a 'satirical comedy' set up in a brothel inhabited by a bunch of prostitutes led by the madame Rukmini bai (Shabana Azmi).Azmi plays the domineering,crude,selfish and at the same time caring madame of the house,unrestrained and subtle at the same time..For this role,she had put on weight,learnt the kolhapuri accent and visited one of the famous 'kothas' of hyderabad to get into the skin of her character..Her loud tone,unrefined mannerisms,the way she wears & reveals her sari,the way she walks...are fantastically done.She's screaming at one point while being funny or emotionally sentimental in another,switching moods from angry to happy to funny to caring...What a screen presence! Phenomenol!
TO BE CONTINUED.....
