My predictions for the Oscars tomorrow

Ok, I never did this before; But, Iam quite excited about the Oscars this time because competition seems quite interesting.

Best Picture of the year:

My prediction: No Country for Old Men. Dark Horses : Juno & Atonement

‘There will be blood’ and ‘Jodha Akbar’

There will be Blood

“There will be Blood ” is a work of absolute genius; Daniel Day Lewis ( as main protagonist Daniel Plainview) delivers a performance which will be remembered for decades to come. His depiction of Daniel Plainview – a man defined by all consuming capitalistic greed, unapologetic hatred for people in general and great complexity -is simply outstanding.

Art imitating reality or ….

I think it was Oscar Wilde who once said that , ” All art is nothing but an effort to imitate reality”..

I think , for many people, it becomes other way around; They try to look for their favorite characters -which they have known in novels and movies- in real life and get frustrated when they dont find them…..

Art sometimes screws up the expectations….I suspect

Truth is stranger than fiction; Characterization and drama in movies…

I was listening to a very old interview (1984) of Mr Woody Allen ( Part 1 & Part 2) ( He has given very few tv interviews in his career spanning almost five decades). He talked about how he creates his characters and various situations in his movies. This is something very important to me and I often wonder about it. I believe that characters and sub plots are fundamental to the whole process of telling a story through a movie, but ironically , very few filmmakers talk about it in their interviews.

Many people think that many situations shown in Allen’s movies are taken directly from his own personal life or from lives of people he know and that his main characters, especially whenever played by Allen himself, are nothing but extensions of his own alter-ego.

Woody refutes these myths. Though he agreed that many times he has taken inspiration from real life ( in terms of characters and situations) and some of the philosophical dialogues mouthed by his characters are indeed his own views on life and relationships, but still larger part, he maintains, is fiction which is not necessarily based on his close personal experiences or his absolute knowledge of things; It kept me thinking;

While trying to create my characters and situations, I want to do my best to rely on what I have seen , observed and experienced both within me and around myself. I dont think I would like to create characters just out of the blue, especially when they lead and define the conflict. Their prime motivations and atleast some knowledge of their past are the key factors to create both intellectual and emotional depth in my story. And, that’s going to happen only when I am absolute sure that my characters exist and when I know them atleast at some important level; Inspiration could come from a friend, acquaintance or even public figure..but it has to be real . Yes, situations could be imagined to a fair extent, as they are sometimes necessary to create conflict and drama and also to fill gaps in the narrative . But, even those few contrived situations should look absolutely believable and justify their presence in the narrative.

I have no doubt in my mind that truth is stranger than fiction and therefore want to rely only on former to create stories and characters which are as endearing and interesting as they could be.