The Great Dictator

Charlie or Adolf? 

Neither.

Then why the title, you ask? It is a symbol. 

I do not expect anybody to understand the relevance of the title to the contents of the post, but one person and one person alone. And no, it's not my girlfriend. First of all, I need to have a girlfriend to write about her and even then, I don't think she would approve of me calling her a 'dictator'. 

By now I am sure you are ready to stop reading; but I implore you to bear with me as I explain to you why I write this today. It is not the motivation of a sudden realization or a stark observation, nor is it the occurrence of a life-changing event. It is the need to share; and the need to ask all of you if you have what I have. And if you do not, you are definitely missing something. (I am being a bit romantic here, I realize that)

Friends are quite important in your life. I used to think that they are extremely important but I have gone from 'extremely' to 'quite' and with good reason. That's not to say that friendship is a trivial pursuit. 

Everybody classifies their friends into different categories and so do I. You have your school friends, college friends, work friends, good friends, best friends, acquaintances, etc. Do you have intellectual friends? I don't know if that has ever even been a classification. I may have just coined a term (and bless the internet, it's going to be published). Well, irrespective of whether anybody classifies their friends as intellectual or not, I do.

Perhaps, this idea might be completely lost on many or it might even be too abstract or some might even call me a crack-pot. For me, an intellectual friend is someone with whom I can share my feelings and say things and the person actually understands what I am saying. Now, these are not simple comments but these are things where the other person is on the same level as you as far as understanding of the world, literature, music and entertainment goes; someone who has the analytical eye similar to yours. It need not be that I share the same views but I do share the ability to communicate objectively on a subject that can be abstract but there is a higher sense of understanding and exchange of knowledge.

It is the same reason that we have 'Kavi Sammelans' in India or there are debates or there are 'Literary Meets'. People of like mind are able to enjoy each other's company more than they can with anybody else. Now, these events are very specific but imagine being able to share different aspects of your life with a friend who views life like you do. 

I just recently watched an episode of a sitcom called 'How I met your mother?'. The character of Ted, very effectively played by Josh Radnor is always put down by his group of 'best friends' whenever he tries to share some insight that is very nerdy or geeky or snobby according to them. However, in that same episode he is able to enjoy on a completely different level when he visits a party of really snobby Upper East Side WASPy people. (This is a very New York term - Upper East Side is a very rich part of NYC and of old money. WASP stands for White Anglo Saxon Protestant). 

Similarly, my brother who is an extremely brilliant and intelligent person; many times cracks jokes which are either too subtle or would not be considered as jokes at all. A few months ago, when I was having a discussion with him, he asks me, "Mihir, do you realize that your Sound to Noise ratio is really low?" Now, my friends, that was something that completely put me off balance. It did not make any sense whatsoever to me. And I was not drunk, so I DID have all my faculties with me. 

The explanation after I ask - Sound is decipherable and Noise is not. I don't even remember if I won or lost the argument. But I am sure that it was a disappointment to my brother that his smart comment was wasted. Any intelligent comment that you have to explain is completely wasted. 

It is important for me that when I talk to someone about things out of the ordinary that the person is able to appreciate those and preferably comment on it. It is 'brain-food'. 

Fortunately, I have an intellectual friend and I thank the Lord Almighty for bestowing this kindness upon me. This post is nothing but a word of gratitude to my friend for being there. 

I just hope, this gesture is not lost, otherwise this entire thing will prove to be pointless. Actually, it could give me another topic – ‘The Great Irony’…..hahahahahaha

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

I am a very easy consumer for movie makers. Give me a movie where I am entertained for those hours I spend in the theater and for me I have utilized my money well. I like going to watch movies in theaters, it is something different than watching it on a TV; it feels like I am doing something special.

What prompted me to write this post is my utter disappointment with the latest Harry Potter movie. Granted, I have never been a fan of any of the Harry Potter movies because I always expected everything in the book to be shown in the movie as well. Now, there are some instances in those earlier movies where the directors have left out very important parts in the movie but overall, they have been able to maintain the essence of the book. They were able to retain that 'magic'.

I have just returned from the theater and I was so disappointed that I felt compelled to write this at 2.30 am. As I said before, I always expect the scenes in the book to be shown in the movies. Before going to this one, I had decided that I will not expect any such thing and consider the merits of the movie in their own right. I don't think I should have done that. It just made me analyze it even more; more than I would for any other movie. And usually, I don't really analyze a movie that is pure entertainment. Serious movies? Yes, I do analyze them and I love doing that.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 was a movie with incorrect glimpses from the book. There was no flow to the movie. I felt transported from one scene to another without there being any smooth transition and the story seemed to shift from one part to another abruptly. Having the read the book about 3 times or so, even I was confused in a few places as to what exactly is happening. When the director takes artistic liberty to modify some sequences, I understand that is necessary to convert a book into a movie but why do the details in the scene have to be so incorrect? The movie was so confusing to the audience who hadn't read the book, that all around me, I could hear people explaining the movie to their friends as also while I was walking out the theater, people were still confused about what had actually occurred. It just felt like several scenes shot at random and thrown together to look like a movie.

I have heard from people who had gone to watch the earlier movies without having read the book that they were able to understand it and follow the story properly. This one, the director has just assumed that everyone in the audience has read the book.

One scene in particular is what annoyed me the most. It is the episode where Ron is attempting to destroy the 'locket' horcrux and different images pop out of that locket. One of those images is that of an apparently naked Harry and Hermione in an embrace and kissing. Though I don't find that scene objectionable per se, but my annoyance is with regards to its necessity in the movie. On the one hand, the director takes his liberty to change many important scenes and even completely omit them and here he adds a scene which is completely unnecessary to the story. If the director intends to convey that message, it is already conveyed in the movie before that scene and as it is, he has also already assumed that the viewer has read the book.

No matter how much I dislike the Harry Potter movies due to their inability to be efficient in converting the book in to a movie, I will still go and watch the last part like I have with the previous movies, just because I am a crazy fan of the Harry Potter series.

For the people who love these movies and argue that one mustn't expect everything from the book in the movie and make excuses for the movies for what they are; I would like to ask them why they think the Lord of the Rings movies were so well received, even by the book lovers?

(Part 2 dissection to follow)