What Sachit Thinks

The final film in the Apu Trilogy, Apur Sansar is perhaps a fitting finale to this anthology. Satyajit Ray brings to life Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's novels, in the way only he can.  This film's foundation is built on Apu's relationships, namely: 1) Apu and his mother: their separation and his battle between ambition and love for his mother. The first hammer to hit Apu is when his mother dies. 2) Apu and his wife:  Sharmila Tagore who gives up material wealth to become Apu's life. Apu finds new meaning to his life. But her loss is a sledgehammer that he can never recover from.  3) Apu and his friend Pulu: A beautiful friendship, Pulu is the one who holds Apu's hand whenever he is in trouble. First when he's struggling as a student, then introducing him to his wife, and finally, being instrumental in reunification with Kajal, his son. 4) Apu and his son, Kajal: This is heart-wrenching. Apu first disowns Kajal, but Pulu persuades him to at least see his son once...

Oh I'm enjoying Satyajit Ray's work. The second film in the Apu Trilogy, Aparajito (1959) makes your heart ache.  This film captures the metamorphosis of its two protagonists - Sarbajaya and Apu. The mother changes from being just a homemaker to the man of the family. Having earlier lost her daughter, she now has to face the loss of her husband. Left alone to raise Apu, she does everything in her grasp to give him a decent life, and of course, education. But what gets her in the end, is living without her only lifeline - Apu. She can bear everything, but not separation from Apu. Apu has a coming of age transformation. From being trained as a priest to excelling in academics, he finds his true calling in Calcutta. He is ambitious and hard working, but also pained that he has to leave his ailing mother back home. Her loss fuels his ambition and instead of choosing his family profession, he chooses to return to Calcutta. His fate awaits. Aparajito makes you feel the mother's a...

Why on earth had I not watched any Satyajit Ray film till now? Puzzles me. But I'm setting out to watch every film made by the great man. Pather Panchali is my kind of cinema. Simple, yet complex. Subtle, yet bold. Rambling, yet assertive. The story is quite loose and banal, but it is the telling of the story that makes an impact. What drew me to the film is the play of characters, and the attention to detail.  Your heart goes out to each of the pivotal characters - Sarbajaya, the forced matriarch, Durga, the dreamy daughter, Apu, the boy turning man, and Indir, the penniless beggar. Each of them tell their own story, not on words, but through their eyes and body language.  Usually in a film, you can make out the star of the show, but you can't really point to one character here. Perhaps it's the whole package that is the star. Everything works together perfectly. I'm now looking forward to watching the second in the Aupu Trilogy - Aparajito. Stay tuned.   

 I recently did a mentorship program for actors. One of the questions I was asked was 'Why do you want to be an actor?' At first glance, I thought this was a simple enough question. But as I sat down thinking, the answer wasn't as easy. There are three operative words in this question, 'Why', 'Want' and 'Actor'. And I went about tackling each one of them. 1) Why: I've grown up as a movie buff, mesmerized by the magic on the screen. While in my corporate career job, I saw the benefits of being empathetic, towards my own people, towards customers and towards situations. That feeling of empathy needed an outlet I guess. 2) Want: This is tricky. What do I really want? Make money? Gain fame? Become powerful? I've known long enough that those aren't my drivers. Simpler wants really. Just to be nice, meet good people and grow as a human. 3) Actor: I love giving. And if I can make someone feel something, isn't that an act of giving? And actor...

 As I was planning my trip to Mumbai, there was this one fear I had. What if I ended up doing nothing? I was venturing to spend one week in the city without any plan, any meetings. But as providence would have it, I came across this workshop called 'Discover Your Method' scheduled for exactly the time I would be in Mumbai! It was four hours everyday over five days, conducted by Preeti Gupta. A name I'd never heard before, and a 'Method' that I was vague about.  The workshop was brilliant, at least for me. It allowed me to get an insight what the 'Method' really is. There are so many misgivings about it. Who Lee Strasberg was. And what is the meaning of relaxation - the Strasberg way. Having been an actor for a while now, I always thought relaxation was deep breathing. That yes, but the Strasberg method is a specific technique that 'trains' you to relax. And once you're relaxed as a performer, you allow the freeway from the mind to the body to be ...

Cricket enthusiasts like me who watch the game regularly are so used to cricketing clichés, that we tend to ignore them. But for someone new to the game, some of these terms must sound like Greek and Latin. I've attempted to list down as many as I know, and have given basic explanations to what they mean. I've left out many standard cricketing terminologies, but there are already millions of websites for those definitions. This is just dedicated to quirky terms and phrases in commentary.  I'm sure there are many more and you're welcome to add-on in the comments section. I will surely add them with due credit. So, enjoy! Term Meaning Against the run of play Something happens out of the blue. For example, when a wicket falls after a long partnership. Attritional cricket One team or both teams are playing slowly, especially when draw is a likely outcome Beamer The ball ...