I got a long mail from Elizabeth last week. It was surprising that she could express herself so much better through her mails . I mean when she used to be around me, she didnt say much on her own ..it was more reacting to what I said or responding to my queries. Not to say that she was shy or anything like that, but I always thought she could say more. I think that’s the case with lot of people, especially girls. People are so different when they have virtual tools like email/blogs at their disposal. And I guess it becomes even more true when they dont know you in real life and communicate with you through chatting and blogging as virtual buddies. There are countless stories of people turning out to be very different when their virtual counterparts met them in real life.
Earlier, I used to think that in virtual world, people are more honest as they can get rid of the masks which are so essential in real life. Now, I have very strong doubts about it.. infact now I feel that it’s much easier to manipulate your real self in virtual world. That’s one of the reasons I try not to fall for people ( chat friends, blogs etc) in the virtual world beyond an extent, no matter how cool and liberated they sound.
Nowadays, Iam watching Satyajit Ray’s Cinema. Before this , only movies I had watched-long time back- were Shatrank ke Khiladi, Aaguntak and I think Ganashatru. I remember when I was in India, I always wanted to watch his best movies, but never got the opportunity. Local video stores never kept them and only ways you could have watched them were either watching on national television ( if you knew beforehand that they are showing) or in film festivals. There might be other ways, but it was tough to lay your hands on such movies. It’s funny that I could get most of his movies in dvd/vcd form here in my University Library. It seemed to me as if West has taken more care of him.
I watched Charulata and Mahanagar..Pather Panchali is so much in demand that there is a long queue to get that. Anyways, I liked both the movies I saw. The main lead in both movies, Madhubina Mukherjee is a stunner beyond doubt. Who says offbeat heroines are not very beautiful.. even with simple saree and no makeup, she is much better looking than half of current Bollywood actresses..mind you no exaggeration here..just plain truth.
I guess lingo of Ray’s cinema is very different..closer to neo-realistic cinema of Italy. Characters are very real, performances underplayed, tragedy without melodrama. All in all, compassion for his characters and their situations.
Will write more once I understand and feel more about his cinema.
